The third edition of the Lough Cutra Castle Triathlon welcomed over 1,000 athletes from across Ireland, the UK and as far afield as the Philippines last month, with local athlete Ruaidhri Geraghty (Galway Tri Club) winning the middle-distance Gauntlet race with a time of 4:37:52.
Not far behind in third place overall at the Gaunlet and leading the ladies was Joyce Wolfe in an impressive 4:59:18, Keeping it in the family, her sister Amy Wolfe captained the Irish team, competing in the Olympic distance, and brother Mark took part in The Gauntlet.
The international team event was fought out intensely and resulted in a win for Team GB. Team GB consisted of David Bishop, Chris Hine and Catherine Jameson. Team Ireland was Amy Wolfe, Mark Nolan and Aaron O'Brien.
First over the line in the Olympic distance was David Bishop with a new course record of 2 hours and 3 seconds. Second home was Aaron O'Brien (Limerick Tri Club) in 02:03:48 in only his second attempt on the distance. Catherine Jameson topped the charts in the women's event finishing in 02:16:44, followed by Carolyn Hayes (Limerick Tri Club) in 2:18:30.
Local man Mairtin Gealish of GoTri won the Sprint Plus race (800m/44km/8km) in 01:57:52. The women's race winner was Julie Ledwith of Longford Triathlon Club. The Super Sprint was won by Derek Corbett in 00:54:30, with Rachel Glendon second overall and winner of the women's race in 01:06:34.
The Lough Cutra Castle Triathlon is the first of the five Castle Triathlon Series weekend events to take place this year. Each Castle offers a high quality, competitive and safe race set in beautiful grounds and truly spectacular surroundings, testament to the 15,000 competitors who are set to take part in the series this year.