Waterford Duathlon Race Report 29/04/07

Final Results

The Butlerstown Centre in the outskirts of Waterford City was the venue for the first ever Waterford Duathlon held on Sunday, April 29th.

The event was hosted and organised by Waterford Triathlon Club whose members were out to the venue at 7am to set up transition and prepare for registration.

This race attracted over 100 athletes and is the largest duathlon to have taken place in Ireland so far this year. There was a large sprinkling of local athletes as well as competitors from Dublin, Cork, Limerick and Galway.

The course consisted of a 5km run circuit followed by 3 laps of a 7km cycle route (21 km in total) and culminating in a final 3km run circuit.

A heavy shower of rain just before the start of the race failed to dampen the spirits of the competitors and the race got underway just after 10am.

The pre race favourites in the male race were Aubrey Storey from 3D Tri, Ruadhri Geraghty from Galway Tri and Dave Corcoran from the Harp Tri Club. In the female section, Catherine Keoghane and Susan Griffin were set to battle it out for top honours with local athlete, Maria Griffin also expected to mount a serious challenge. Other local athletes expected to do well in the male race were David Brazil, Martin Midjaski, Kevin O'Brien and Alan Murphy.

Aubrey Storey was the early leader in the first run but just before entering Transition 1, he was reeled in by Galway's Ruadhri Geraghty. Both athletes exited together on the bike with Lloyd Berry and Dave Corcoran less than a minute behind.

Maria Griffin was the first female to exit on the bike much to the delight of local supporters but Catherine Keoghane and Susan Griffin, true to their pre race favouritism, were hot on her heels.

Further down the field, some huge battles for places were going on. Martin Midjaski, Dave Corcoran and Kevin O'Brien were battling it out in 4th and 5th and 6th positon and further down the pecking order, sparring partners Liam Dillon, Derek McCabe and Niall Heffernan were having a battle royale on the bike. Dillon eventually got the better of this tussle but McCabe and Heffernan are waiting for the next chapter to be written!

Geraghty was the first into Transition 2 and at this point, had built up over a minute on Storey. Meanwhile, Keoghane and Susan Griffin both overtook Maria Griffin in the female race with Keoghane moving into first place as they set out on the final 3km run. Meanwhile, one of the pre race favourites, David Brazil, was unlucky to puncture on the second cycle lap so his race was over bar the shouting!

The leading positions were maintained to the finish line resulting in Ruadhri Geraghty and Catherine Keoghane being crowned the first ever Waterford Duathlon champions.

Aubrey Storey finished second with Lloyd Berry coming in third. In the female race, Susan Griffin finished second and Maria Griffin pipped Norah Daly for third, much to the applause of the local supporters.

The race proved very popular with competitors and spectators alike and everybody was high in their praise of the Waterford Triathlon club for hosting such a successful event. Prizegiving took place later in the Holycross Pub where everybody gathered for post race refreshments.

A big thanks to the Butlerstown Centre for providing their facilities and also to everybody who offered their marshalling services. A big thanks especially to Vincent Ryan who provided the equipment for transition and to Declan McGrath who recruited so many marshalls for the event. Both top men! We would like to thank all the marshals for their help, especially those from other clubs such as Waterford AC, West Waterford AC, Comeragh Cycling Club, Carrick Triathlon Club, Butlerstown GAA and all the friends and family members who did such a great job on a wet morning.  It would never have gone so well without their help.

Well done to all who completed.

Results

1st  Ruaidhri Geraghty: 0.59.10
2nd Aubrey Storey: 1.00.54
3rd Lloyd Berry: 1.01.29

1st Catherine Keoghane: 1.14.50
2nd Susan Griffin: 1.16.22
3rd Maria Griffin: 1.16.59

1st Male Vet Kevin O'Brien: 1.03.10
1st Female Vet  Norma Goggin: 1.31.27

  Full Results