Irish elites ensuring strong field at lough cutra castle triathlon
Entries are coming in hot and heavy for the first of the Castle Triathlon Series - Lough Cutra Castle Triathlon (24th May) in Galway, Ireland.
With three times as many entries registered as this time last year, the list is peppered with familiar high profile Irish names. The Standard triathlon is once again a Triathlon Ireland National Series Race.
Castle Triathlon Series welcomes the return of young Aaron O'Brien (Limerick Tri Club) who exploded onto the senior triathlon scene last year, finishing a close second in Lough Cutra to David Bishop and top of the Irish competitors. Aaron's season was spectacular, amongst other successes he won the Dublin City Triathlon and the Triathlon Ireland National Series Championships as well as finishing 6th of the elites in the London City Triathlon.
Speaking about Lough Cutra Castle Triathlon, Aaron O'Brien said, 'The event was very professionally run, the course and atmosphere were great, and the award ceremony was one of the best out of all the races I did last year.'
Carolyn Hayes (GoTri) also returns to defend her title in May. She was first Irishwoman in the Olympic, behind Catherine Jameson in her first season of triathlon. Carolyn comes from a competitive swimming background and made a remarkable start in triathlon winning the Joey Hannon in Limerick, Hell of the West (Kilkee), Dublin City Triathlon and the Galway Aquathon (long course). This earned her a well deserved first place in the Triathlon Ireland National Series Championships.
Triathlon Ireland High Performance Athlete Kevin Thornton (Belpark) is taking part in The Gauntlet for the first time. Kevin turned pro last year after a stunning 2013 season where he had 7 first places, 5 of which were course records, and was Triathlon Ireland National Series Champion. Last year Kevin won the Tiede Exreme 70.3, was 3rd in the Dubai International Triathlon, 8th in IM Italy 70.3 and 19th in IM Mallorca.
Having finished second in the Olympic distance at Lough Cutra Castle Triathlon back in 2012, Kevin is relishing the challenge of the longer race, 'I'm delighted to be going back to Lough Cutra Castle Triathlon after a two year break. I'm a local fella, so I'm really happy about being able to race so close to family and friends and in front of a home crowd! I've not had the chance to race The Gauntlet before, so I'm looking forward to a tough challenge of an oh so fresh lake swim, a rolling bike course on some of our lovely Irish roads and a tricky trail run in the beautiful surrounds of Lough Cutra Castle.'
Laura Wylie, Siobhan Gallagher, Amy Wolfe and Lorna Wolfe have all confirmed as have Trevor Woods, Cormac McGarry, Ian Farrell, Brian Harris, Michael Buckley and Mark Nolan. It's looking good for some top class early season competition at Lough Cutra Castle.
Lough Cutra Castle Triathlon is a genuine festival of triathlon with a race for everyone. As well as the new Starter Tri, here are three junior races for children from 8-15 year olds and four other adult races. These are a Super Sprint, Sprint Plus, Standard (Olympic) and the Gauntlet Middle Distance race. All swims are in the beautiful Castle lake and the runs around the glorious grounds. The junior cycle routes are also inside the estate, The Gauntlet cycle route is around the amazing lunar landscape of The Burren.
A 10% discount is available on entry to all distances until 2nd April. www.loughcutratri.ie