Mourne Triathlon took place in the Castlewellan Forest Park, Co. Down this Saturday. It was the perfect day and a beautiful setting for the event which was upgraded to a full olympic distance race this year and was host to the Ulster Olympic Distance Championships.

Over 300 competitors took part in this challenging event…

There was an extremely competitive field out there and while Trudy Brown looked favourite for the ladies event the mens wasn’t quite so easy to call.

Liam Dunne won the event last year but with Brian Campbell and Trevor Woods in the mix it was going to be a challenge to keep the title. David Graham, former Junior Swimming champion and newcomer to the sport this year was the first competitor out of the water and the only athlete to break 19 minutes for the 1500 metres. Campbell was second out followed by Darren Cranston from Belpark. Trevor Woods was 7th. Campbell and Graham led the way on the bike and it didnt take Woods too long to close in on the 2 mins lost on the swim. Brian Crinion started out but not feeling the best and with his hunger to win not at its highest level he pulled out on the bike. Woods was first into T1 followed by Campbell who took a tumble off the bike entering transition, debating whether to pull out or go on he opted for the latter and continued on with the race. David Graham was third into transition followed by LIam Dunne, Colm Cassidy and Colm Turner. Turner had a spectacular run in Bray only two weeks ago leading him to win the event and we all looked on eagerly to see could he do it again. After a fast bike split they all had to muster up the energy to complete a 2lap 10km cross country run..which meant facing one rather nasty hill…twice!!

Campbell took the lead on the first lap of the run and Woods tried desperately to hold in there but Campbell had the edge and won the event in 2:04.56. Woods didnt fall too far behind taking second place in 2:05.30.
Graham, Dunne, Cassidy and Turner all maintained the positions they left T2 in, with Graham 3rd, Dunne 4th, Cassidy 5th and Turner 6th. Turner said he enjoyed the event but cramped up very badly on the run and was disappointed with his performance.

Belparks Susan Griffin was the first lady out of the water followed by Trudy Brown, it didnt take Brown long to take the lead and she dominated the race right to the end, winning the race in 2:21.41 and enjoying her 10th victory out of ten races this season. Lisa Howley was third out of the water followed by Karen Bothwell. Karen has also been enjoying a successful season, she didnt quite have what it took to catch up with Trudy but she put in a very solid performace finishing in 2nd place in 2:25.26. Elena Maslova who fell almost two minutes behind on the swim couldnt manage to make up for lost time but she finished in third place.

All in all it was a tough race by all accounts with many athletes cursing the hill but it didnt stop them taking in and commenting on the beautiful scenery that surrounded them. It was a very well run race and a great day out and with talks of next years race being followed by a music event in the park, this could be one race well worth staying over after next year.

Brian Campbell HiElbow 02:04:56
Trevor Woods Cork Tri 02:05:30
David Graham u/a 02:07:15

Trudy Brown Olmypian TC 2:21.41
Karen Bothwell 3Dtri 2:25.26
Elena Maslova Belpark 2:27.05

Please check out www.triathlonireland.com for more details