Dublin City Triathlon - 2008 Race Report

  Race Report by Steven Moody

With the Gatorade Dublin City triathlon being one of the last standard distance National series race and a qualifying race for the 2009 worlds – this race was always going to be a popular event on the race calendar.

This was reflected in both the number of entrants and the quality of competitor s that the race attracted including big names such as Brian Campbell, Art MacManusa, David Graham , Elena Maslova, Eimear O’Brien, Steven Moody and many more.

There was of course the added excitement of the presence of the Paddy Power Dream team of ex Olympians consisting of Chantal Gibney, Ciaran Power and Catheria McKiernan who would be racing the clock to raise money for the Irish Cancer Society. The triathlon gods for once decided that the Irish race scene had suffered enough rain and over 500 competitors turned up at the UCD boat to find a superbly organized transition area bathed in glorious sunshine. Some superb race organization saw the wave one off at 0800 without a hitch and this was to set the trend for the day.

With the waves divided up on the basis of estimated swim times, it was expected that all of the winners would emerge from this wave and watched keenly as the first competitors made light work of a heavy looking current. David Graham and Stephen Banahan were the clear early leaders from the swim wave and exited the water in 17 mins and 19 mins respectively .

In the ladies race, Barbara O’Hanrahan of Belpark exited a clear leader with a lead of two minutes over Elena Maslova. However, unknown at this stage was that Sinead Jennings, the Irish Olympic rower, had returned to her childhood calling of triathlon and exited wave 1 the female leader in the swim leg, only marginally behind Chantal Gibney of the Dream team in terms of her swim split and then began to make serious inroads on the bike course.

The cycle leg of DCT is reknown for being a technical and fast course, which suits strong cyclists who like to push a high gear. This year was no exception with the stronger cyclists taking advantage of the sun drenched and well marshaled course to clock some serious times. Mark Dowling was the clear leader in the men’s cycle splits with Art McManus marginally behind.

Despite only finishing 7th fastest on the bike – David Graham had done enough to protect his overall lead and entered the run leg in a strong position but would it be enough to hold off Brian Campbell’s traditionally strong finish…. However, with the special day that it was, even the leaders were to experience something new by being overtaken by Ciaran Power in striking pink race gear as the dream team exerted itself on the race ….