March Preview

Racing on 3 continents, sort of, for Irish athletes on the World Triathlon circuit.

In Oceania Donnacha McCarthy and guide Sean Husband for the Para World Series level event in Australia. They go into the race number 3 in what looks to be a tough race. This is the first round of this years World Para Series and another opportunity to show they have moved up a level this year after a great start winning in Abu Dhabi a couple of weeks ago. 

In Africa James Edgar will be looking to back up, and improve on, his recent 3rd place in South Africa with another race in the same country, this time on the coast with open water swim. Currently best placed of the Irish able bodied athletes to compete for a spot in Paris, we get to see Russell White racing next weekend, James is up against an interesting field with Jamie Riddle and Richard Murray leading the rankings but with some big name athletes like Andrea Salvisberg, 22nd in Tokyo, hiding down the start list due to lower ranking having not raced since tokyo. 

Meanwhile on the European circuit Ian Manthey, who had for him a disappointing result in his last race due to illness in the preceding weeks, takes on a field of 64 in Melilla, a European Cup race held in the small Spanish enclave in North Africa. This is a really open race without the standout names of others where a lot of athletes will feel they have a chance.

Erin McConnell also races Melilla. Last number on the start list would indicate a late decision to go as numbers are allocated on the monday preceding the race. Erin would normally be ranked in the top 10 in a field of 45. Nora Gmur, Emma Jackson and Alissa Konig lead the field and with multiple podium scorers like Margot Garabedian and Kaidi Kivioja also racing this will be a hard race to score well in so a good test of where Erin is. She currently is Ireland's top ranked women.