A few national and International Triathlon news.

National Triathlon news

Next week’s Dublin City Triathlon made it into the Indo yesterday.

With the countdown to Ironman 70.3 Galway in two weeks a few of the racers are tackling the long distance 13km Galway Bay swim this weekend.

“Frances Thornton Memorial Galway Bay Swim, now in its sixth year, is set to raise €300,000 in support of Cancer Care West

The swim from Auginish in Co. Clare to Blackrock Diving Tower in Salthill is a distance of roughly 13 kilometres has seen over 70 swimmers make successful crossings while in the process raising nearly €250,000 for Cancer Care West. This year the swim is set to raise that mark to over €300,000.

It looks a long way from here!!!

This year, like other years, the majority of the swimmers will be stepping in to Galway Bay at Auginish in Co. Clare in just their swimming togs, with a few in wet suits, hoping to land at the iconic Blackrock Diving Tower a few hours later.

Speaking about the event, organiser Kevin Thornton said: “Interest has exploded again this year with swimmers applying from all over the country! Some notable swimmers include Ruaidhrí Geraghty, Ironman 70.3 Galway Organiser, Stephen Early, fifth at the recent Irish Triathlon Championships, Andy Flangan, 2010 English Channel Swimmer and English Channel Swim hopeful Sorcha Barry who is using this event as part of her training for her attempt in September. Completing the line up will be Claire Thornton, 15, our youngest female participant to date.”

Getting physically and mentally prepared for this type of swim is a huge challenge. The water temperature is approximately 15 degrees Celsius at this time of year and the mental strength needed to overcome this is paramount. The weather conditions are unpredictable and totally out of the swimmers hands. They will simply do their best to not disturb passing seals while trying to avoid the jellyfish and passing vessels!

All going well the swimmers should arrive at Blackrock in Salthill between 12.00 pm and 2.30 pm on Saturday so if you are in the area please come down and give your support to the swimmers and to the charity where entertain will be provided by the Galway Bay FM Roadcaster.

Those wishing to support the swim may contact Kevin on (086) 3571714 or visit http://www.mycharity.ie/event/galway_bay_swim and http://www.facebook.com/galwaybayswim.”

International Triathlon news

The Sprint Triathlon World Champs and Team Triathlon World Champs are both on in Lausanne, Switzerland.  Bryan Keane & Amy Wolfe (Cork Tri) will be racing in the Sprint champs.  This will be Amy’s first World Cahmpionship Series event, so we’re wishing her the best of luck.  Bryan will be aiming to reach the height’s of 7th place, where he finished last year.

The Irish Triathlon team for the team championships will be Bryan Keane, Conor Murphy, Joyce Wolfe and Amy Wolfe.  They’ll race over the 4 by 265m swim, 5km bike and 1.2km run.

Expect to see lots more of these very TV friendly triathlon formats in the future.  There been requests for years to have triathlon races fitting into the one hour TV slots.  These seem to fit that bill.

ITU press release

“The fastest triathletes in the world

Last year Jonathan Brownlee and Lisa Norden created history as the first ITU Elite Sprint Triathlon World Champions. This year the stakes are higher, not only is there a world championship on the line, but it is the penultimate round of the 2011 Dextro Energy Triathlon ITU World Championship Series. The top five men, Javier Gomez, Alistair Brownlee, Alexander Brukhankov, David Hauss and Jonathan Brownlee will all race. While in the women’s, Barbara Riveros Diaz, Andrea Hewitt, Emma Moffatt, Helen Jenkins and Sarah Groff all have a valuable chance to put some points on Canadian Paula Findlay – who is not racing in Lausanne. For the current rankings click here.

Record turn-out for Team Triathlon World Championships

A total of 37 teams from 30 different national federations will be on the start line in Lausanne, making it the biggest Team Triathlon World Championships so far. It’s another exciting step forward for the dynamic and exciting format, as the ITU aims for its inclusion in the Rio 2016 Olympic Games programme. Since it’s introduction in 2009, the format has proved a hit and it made its major games debut at the Singapore 2010 Youth Olympic Games. A few weeks ago Team Triathlon received another boost, with the news it would be included in the Incheon 2014 Asian Games. Switzerland has won both mixed relay Team Triathlon world titles, and they will be contenders again, but a British team of Alistair Brownlee, Jonathan Brownlee, Helen Jenkins and Jodie Stimpson will almost certainly challenge the home team. The final teams will not be decided until just before the race on Sunday, so stayed tuned to www.triathlon.org for the latest team news then“.