Hey everyone,

If you want to be part of the HiElbow Club this year we are now taking club membershipsRemember ALL club members are required to take out Triathlon Ireland membership (at least associate license)   
 Under 14’s should apply for a “youth” membership.
  
We have also provided an ‘online’ payment option this year for those of you who use online banking.
If you pay this way please ensure you send a membership form back to hielbowtri@gmail.com

Details are on the attached form.

• HiElbowMembershipForm2012 - ms word
• HiElbowMembershipForm2012 - pdf
   
   

The small village of Ballyronan again played host to the Lough Neagh Triathlon on Saturday 30^th July 2011.  The event also had the honour of hosting the Irish Olympic Distance Triathlon Championships.

In a day of fierce competition, held in perfect conditions, it was Dublin’s Joe Lynch, representing Pulse Triathlon Club, who claimed the biggest win of his career to lift the Lough Neagh award, and be crowned National Champion. In the female race, Cork’s Amy Wolfe, led from start to finish claiming the title of National Champion, and enhancing her reputation as a rising star for Elite representation in the future.

Lough Neagh was flat calm, as the athletes entered the water.  Cookstown District Council Chairman, Councillor Sean Clarke, was on hand to start the race. The large entry forced the organisers, Hi Elbow Triathlon Club, to change the usual direction of the swim course.  So this year the competitors started from the beach and spectators were given a first class view of the athletes exiting the water up the marina slipway.  It was defending Champion, South African Bjorn Ludick who exited first, alongside Stephen Early, from the Belpark club.  Amazingly in 3^rd place overall was Amy Wolfe, showing in a swim time of 17.41 secs why she has a big future at Elite Drafting races.  Emma Bamford was next to exit followed by first year triathlete Susie Burnett from the Hi Elbow club.

As the competitors quickly got out of their wetsuits and on to their bikes in the transition area, the four lap, closed road cycle course awaited them.  With the course being designed back in 2004 to accommodate Elite racing, the age group competitors faced a technical but super fast course, especially given the dry conditions.  Bjorn Ludick is a renowned strong cyclist, and by lap three he had pulled away from Early and forged a sizeable lead.  Early was still holding 2^nd, while the promoting club Hi Elbow’s Brian Campbell, a winner of the event on three previous occasions, was in third position.  However all was to change on the final lap, with Joe lynch, Nenagh’s Shane Scully, and Dubliner Kevin Keane all producing times sub 1 hr for the 25 miles, to close the gap on Ludick to less than 1 minute, and overtake both Early and Campbell.  The spectators in the village responded to the excitement with roars of encouragement.  Wolfe didn’t seem to need the encouragement, as she steadily had increased her lead with a strong performance on the bike, entering transition to start the run stage with a 2.30 min advantage over Pulse’s Aoife Lynch, who was having a race long battle with Jen Duffy in 3^rd place.

With any of 8 athletes close enough to take the win in the mens race; it was a case of who had left enough left in the legs to run to victory.  Had Lynch, Scully and Keane gone too fast on the bike, and opened the door for former N.Ireland Cross Country Champion Brian Campbell to run through the field and claim another victory.  Or could Bjorn Ludick, popular with the local crowd as defending Champion, be able to maintain his lead, and edge out another win.  It was soon clear that it wasn’t going to be Ludick’s day, as Lynch, Scully and Campbell powered into the leading places.  It was still anyone’s race as they started the last lap, but it was Lynch who proved the strongest, finishing in a super fast time of 1.56.47secs, closely followed by Scully.  Campbell had the fastest run split of the day to close the gap to 30secs on the winner, but the line came just too quickly for him to claim another race win.

The cat and mouse battle between Lynch and Duffy in the female race was having a dramatic impact.  With each lap it was obvious that they were closing the gap on Wolfe.  Could Wolfe hold on, as Lynch had already claimed victories at Kilkee and the national sprint distance Championships this year?  The gap was just 46 secs when Wolfe crossed the finish line to claim a well deserved win, in 2.08.10 secs.  Lynch, wife of the male winner Joe, ensured it would be a happy Lynch car on the journey back to Dublin, claiming 2^nd place, just ahead of Duffy.     

Speaking to the legendary race commentator Peter Jack after the race, Lynch said he was elated to have the title of National Irish Champion, considering the great names to which the honour has been bestowed in the past. Triathlon Ireland Chief Executive was in attendance, and presented the prizes to all the age group winners.  He commented, “It was great to see such a spectator friendly course and excellent conditions for the National Championships today. Lough Neagh is a great race that even hosted a European Cup race for many years, so it was wonderful to see some of the event’s former glory restored today – it’s a credit to the hard work and effort put in by Hi Elbow”.

Competition for National Championship status was fierce in each age group, with age being no barrier to continued superb athletic achievement.  Among those was Ireland’s oldest ironman finisher, 68 yr young, Sam Gordon, from Portglenone.  Sam competed in the first Lough Neagh race in 2001, producing the race swim hat from 2001 to prove it.  And yes it still fitted. Time hasn’t dulled his competitive spirit, duly winning his age group in 2011.

Newly crowned Irish Ironman record holder Martin Muldoon was also in the field.  A native of South Derry, he’s another who’s been a regular visitor to Lough Neagh over the years, despite living in England.  It’s great to see how he has improved over the years, and now has got the benefit to all that hard training.  Unfortunately he was forced to pull out during the run with a calf strain. Muldoon has big races in Galway and another in Las Vegas ahead of him in the race plan this year, so opted to be safe rather than sorry.

Organisers were also encouraged by an increased entry from local Cookstown, Magherafelt, and Dungannon  people. Triangle triathlon Club, bolstered by their large membership in Magherafelt had the largest entry from any club.  The newly formed Omagh triathlon club also showed that they are going from strength to strength.  They had 19 competitors in their club colours, and some of them were obviously so excited, they arrived at Ballyronan as dawn broke, and nearly before any of the organisers had begun to set up the course. It’s great to see such enthusiasm.  North Down’s Peninsula triathlon club is one of the longest established clubs.  They had a very successful day, gaining three national champions in Les Wilkinson, Gary Swenarton, and Louise Togneri.  The host club, Hi Elbow, couldn’t free up many members to compete due to organisational responsibilities.  However the four lucky members able to race were successful.  Brian Campbell won his age group, while Susie Burnett got a 2^nd place and Ian Barrett a 3^rd.  But the biggest cheer of the day went to our very own Bronagh McQuillan, who has trained hard all year with the goal of finishing her first Olympic Distance event.  Bronagh celebrated her finish in true style, by popping open a bottle of champagne to celebrate her achievement with family and friends.      

The race marked the 10^th anniversary of the Lough Neagh Triathlon.  In that time the race has had a remarkable success, hosting a round of the European International Cup in 2004 and 2005, the Home Nations championships in 2002, and hosting the Irish Championships in 2003, 2007 and now 2011.  This has firmly put the small village of Ballyronan on the map, attracting visitors from throughout the world to sample the delights of triathlon in Lough Neagh.     

The organisers of the event would like to thank Cookstown District Council for their support in promoting the event; they would also extend thanks to the sponsors of the event, Chain Reaction, Powerade, Sunstart Bakery and NI Water. As always the event wouldn’t be a success without the support of Ballyronan Development Association and the patience of the local residents and businesses of Ballyronan. 

Irish National Champions

16-19yrs – Phillip McDonald, Belfast

20-24yrs – David Richardson, Limerick and Joanne Doran, Derry

25-29yrs – Stephen Early, Dublin and Eimear O’Brien, Castleblaney

30-34yrs – Joe Lynch, Dublin and Amy Wolfe, Cork

35-39yrs – Brian Campbell, Belfast and Deidre O’Toole, Dublin

40-44yrs – Peter Savage, Banbridge and Margaret Kelly, Letterkenny

45-49yrs – Michael Mackin, Athlone and Anne Paul, Portrush

50-54yrs – Liam Williams, Wicklow and Louise Togneri, Bangor

55-59 yrs – Les Wilkinson, Donaghadee

60-64yrs – Gary Swenarton, Bangor

65-69yrs – Sam Gordan, Ballymena

RACE RESULTS -

GARY JACKSON (Image and Print Photography)

If you are still looking for photographs please contact Gary with your race number

Hi Elbow/RNLI Aquathon, Brown’s Bay, Islandmagee, 05/06/11

FIND THE RACE REPORT AND RESULTS HERE.

The HiElbow triathlon club in conjunction with the Larne RNLI station hosted one of the joint Triathlon Ireland/RNLI aquathon series at Brown’s Bay, Islandmagee near Larne.  This was the first event of its type-taking place in this tranquil area close to Larne harbour and proved to be an ideal location for aquathon and future triathlon events.

To attract new athletes to the sport a novice and children’s race was added to the main race of the afternoon and on a cool, damp and breezy afternoon 37 athletes took to the start line.  The first and main race of the afternoon was the RNLI series consisting of a 750m swim consisting of a 2 lap triangle followed by a 5km run again consisting of 2 challenging laps.  The men’s winner was Carl Russell in a time of 27.58 mins with the ladies winner Trudy Brown finishing in a time of 31.19 mins.

The second race aimed at novice level consisted of a one lap 325m swim and one lap 2.5km run, which Chris Surgenor won in a time of 18.52 mins.  However, the most pleasing aspect of the day was the smile on the children’s faces following their own race consisting of a 100m swim followed by a 1km run.  Several of the kids were sons and daughters of existing triathletes and they loved being part of the whole event, especially being awarded a finishers medal.

Thanks to Larne RNLI station for providing the generous prizes for the first three male and female finishers of the RNLI series and first three finishers of the novice race.

Originally there was meant to be a good 14 of us heading down, although there was a drop in numbers due to injuries or unfortunate circumstances, those that couldn’t make it were missed. The group that made it included Gaz , Larry, Tim, Jim, Martin, Stewart, Stevie H., Brian and myself (Susie).

The 3/4 day block of training was made tougher with the unforeseen headwinds, hailstones and rain showers; very enjoyable for the most of us who brought warm summer gear! Each day saw a well planned cycling route (thanks to Ian) with multiple members putting in as many miles as possible, if not extra miles (unlike myself who likes the shortcut route!). The unstoppable Stevie and Brian even cycled home the Monday, hats off to them!

Many of us either ran off the bike or else in the late afternoon, usually topped off with a bit of relaxing in the fab pool and jacuzzi at the hotel. The weather meant horrendous sea conditions, meaning we missed out on some open water swimming. ( I was wishing I’d brought the surfboard instead!)

Then followed a bit of rest for the night, where a 3- course meal each and the odd pint of Guinness ensured we would be raring to go the next morning! Thanks to Gaz for sorting out the hotel, they were more than welcoming, providing bike storage and even early morning breakfast (a cooked one too yum!!)

A brilliant weekend with good craic and great company, thanks to everyone! Already ideas are circulating for the next time… perhaps the idea of hot, sunny and sizzling Spain!

More photos to follow soon…

Check out the photos in our HiElbow Gallery.

• Monday (7.30-8.30pm)
• Wednesday (7.30-8.30pm)

We also recieve valuable coached lessons once a month.

Visit our SWIMMING TRAINING page for more info.

During the Summer Months we train:

• Thursday evening 6.30pm
• Saturday morning 8.00am
• Sunday morning 9.00am (please confirm with others if going)

During the Winter:

• Saturday morning 9.00am
• Sunday morning 9.00am (please confirm with others if going)

Visit our CYCLING TRAINING page for more info.