The year got off to a solid start for the Irish athletes on the World Triathlon circuit.

World Para Cup

Of course it is easy to make a mistake when there is no competitive pressure particularly with athletes from multiple classifications on course at the same time. These are the days when you have to deliver and go home with the 450 World Ranking points on offer. Those points do not impact MacCombe’s ranking at this time as she has 3 current period scores of 470 or above. They will come into effect as other scores are lost, in May this year the points from Yokohama last years are cut by two thirds.

MacCombe is racing next in Devonport where Susana Rodriguez is entered. Rodriguez is the world number 1 and Paralympic champion so this will be a much harder race to win. We do not know yet who the guide will be for Rodriguz but this should be a race where we can see what progress MacCombe has made over the winter and if she is closer to the top 2 or 3 athletes in her classification. Second place should be secure here. 

World Triathlon Championship Series Individual

James Edgar was in the World Triathlon Championship Series race in Abu Dhabi. This was close to being very good but he just missed out on the main group on the bike and finished 32nd overall. Edgar had a good swim but over the 1st lap of the bike couldn't quite get into the middle of the front pack and the line broke just in front of him as the group went through onto the 2nd lap. When we look at the race numbers we can see a number of athletes including the winner Hayden Wilde made the pack so that will be a learning experience for him at this level. No matter how good you think the athletes around you are, they can still let the wheel go in a lineout.

World Triathlon Championship Series Relay

The relay team was next in action. Again this had a very poor turnout at only 11 teams but provided a great opportunity for the team. Erin McConnell led off and exited the water 7th at 11 seconds down. A group of 5 went clear but never got a big lead and when 1 of the chasers got across there was a slight stall which was enough for the whole race to come together for the run. McConnell looked comfortable on the bike but lost around 25 seconds per kilometer on the run. This was the 1st race of the year so plenty to work on before the next outing. It would have been interesting to see if she would have been closer in the swim if she had done the swim in the individual race just to get a feel of racing again. 

James Edgar took the 2nd leg and swam very well within seconds of the fastest. The bike is hard to gauge with a bad crash in the front group changing the position dramatically. On the run Edgar was 3rd fastest just 2 seconds slower than Spain’s Cantero Del Campo who had the fastest split of the individual race, so a real positive for future races. 

Hollie Elliott had a very good swim but just couldn't hold the bike group and lost some time before the run. She ran the same pace as McConnell and we can expect some good competition between them over the year. 

Russell White was on his own for his leg so again hard to gauge but looked in good shape on swim and bike. The important point was to stay ahead of any lap out timing so the team would score points for world ranking. With only 11 starters a finish was going to put the team into the top 20 in the world and the final 8th place with 3 DNFs due to the crash moves the team into 17th on the rankings. There is a real opportunity to build on this. Getting into the front bike pack on the second leg really sets up points scoring finishes.

Chennai Asia Continental Cup

Luke McCarron was expected to have a good race in India and he delivered with a podium result. This was not the highest level race or field but again he did what he was supposed to do and was comfortably one of the best athletes across swim, bike and run. He will be racing again this weekend in Malaysia against a higher quality field with more well ranked athletes but I think another top 10 is on the cards and a top 5 being a reasonable stretch target.

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Official Triathlon Ireland Repot and athlete comments here

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