Cork City Triathlon Elite Races

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Tom Lerno, a sub 16 minute 1500m swimmer from France, led out of the water in the Cork City Triathlon Elite men’s race from a tightly packed group covered by just 30 seconds. The general consensus was that the swim was a bit short which would be backed up by this being Lerno’s fastest EU Cup swim by 30 seconds. First of the Irish team into T1 was Jonathan Oakey with the 6th fastest swim of the day. 

Out onto the bike the bunch had come together quickly with Ian Manthey and Russell White active at the front. Luke McCarron unfortunately punctured just out of transition. On the superfast flowing circuit the group stayed together and they reached T2 after only 35 minutes of racing. 

From a sport development perspective this part of the race will have shown prospective race organisers in Ireland what is possible with a very simple circuit. With only 1 real braking zone and no elevation changes it was not Holten or Kitzbuhel, but the racing was good and short laps along with where the dead turn was located meant spectators had easy access to see the riders twice, at speed. Hopefully this might lead to a return of the superseries, or similar events, domestically.  

With 45 riders set to exit transition together and heading out into a narrow path for 200m, positioning was going to be very important. At opposite ends of the peloton 2 Australians showed the difference that could be made with Luke Schofield leaving transition at 35.38 while Christopher Deegan left at 35.54, a gap of 16 seconds in a small bunch. 

800m into the run Hamish Reilly, GB, was leading and locked into a pace that only a few could follow, while others chasing from behind were using valuable resources. By half way only Astori and Angelini of Italy, Lerno, and Jones of Australia were hanging onto Reilly while Deegan had closed a 10 second deficit from transition to get onto the back of the group. Reilly, Astori and Deegan were able to maintain the pace and move clear and Reilly sprinted 3 seconds clear to win. While Deegan will likely be thinking about the last kilometres on the bike another to miss out was Dominic Coy who ran the same time as Reilly finishing with the same 12 seconds deficit as he had left transition with.

Of the Irish athletes Ian Manthey finished 22nd and should be content with that considering a lack of racing over the last year. As one of the last out of the water he will be happy there were no big gaps in the peloton out of T1 and everything came together. A good strong bike, always towards the front, and a solid run rounded out his day. 

Russell White had a mid-pack swim and looked good on the bike. Stepping onto the carpet in T2 in the Top 5 showed he is back to being able to move strongly around a fast moving bunch and he was on the heels of the leaders 800m into the run. Still building back from, and managing, illness he should take a lot of positives from the day.

A mid pack day for Jonathan Oakey who showed again he can swim with the best at this level and is comfortable on the bike. 5 seconds per K off his run speed, over time, will really put him into these races and even now his 11th in Melilla earlier in the year shows in the right racing circumstances he can get nice results.

Unfortunately we didn't get to see Luke McCarron on the bike due to a puncture. After a solid mid pack swim it looked a good opportunity to show he would be able to maintain his position in the main group at the level in Europe.

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The Elite women's race was the best attended by spectators due to its timing just before the National Series events started and they got to see a really competitive race with 2 World Cup winners right at the front. 

Erin McConnell, in her 1st race of the year, showed she still has all her swim speed leading out onto the bike. She was joined by Sian Rainsley and they finished lap one of the bike 5 seconds ahead of the main bunch which was in turn 20 seconds clear of another group with Elizabeth Carr. 

For a while it looked like the gap between the 2 groups would either stabilise or drift apart but Sophia Green, one of the stronger bike riders in the race, had an incident around the dead turn area and dropped back to the second group. With Green driving on the front the 2 groups merged before 15km and we had a large peloton together into T2. 

McConnell and Rainsley were again at the front on the final corner and Rainsley led out onto the run along with Derbyshire, Australia, and  Denizot, France. By 200m they were clear of Nora Gmur, Switzerland, followed by the bunch with Hollie Elliott, representing World Triathlon but transferring to Ireland, in 10th, McConnell 13th and Carr 18th alongside Sandra Dodet, France.

800m into the run the trio are still just ahead with Dodet now leading the chase with Elliott and McConnell 4 seconds behind her and Carr a further 3 seconds back. By 1.5k Dodet has joined the leaders, pulling Annabel Morton, GB,  and Angelica Prestia, Italy, with her and is heading out on her own. From here on the victory was never in doubt as she opened a controllable gap that none of the others really threatened to close. Rainsley won the sprint for 2nd from Morton.

Erin McConnell looked good opening her season with an impressive swim but perhaps more striking was leading into the final corner on the bike which was nice to see. 

Elizabeth Carr was active at the front of the chasing group on the bike and looked comfortable overall. She was well positioned into T2 but lost places through it, 3 seconds to McConnell. Get out speed from T2 is a takeaway from this race having had Dodet on her shoulder she is 10 seconds down at the 1st checkpoint and 26 at 2.4k from where she only loses a further 12 seconds. Maybe better over an Olympic distance race. A strong performance overall.

Carr finished 1 spot ahead of Hollie Elliott who in finishing 12th showed the depth of the field in Cork as she had finished top 12 in 4 World Cups in her last 5 World Triathlon races. She had a solid race throughout and should be a really good addition to the team.

All 3 along with White and Oakey are entered in the European Sprint Championships in Turkey on the 9th of August where they will be joined by James Edgar who had a very strong 1st World Championship Series race in Hamburg finishing in 33rd place. 

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