OLYMPIAN TRIATHLON CLUB AQUATHON

SATURDAY 31st March 2007
OLYMPIA LEISURE CENTRE, BELFAST


There was a good atmosphere at the 2007 Olympian Adult Aquathon with 33 competitors..
There were some great performances. Results on this page

Some sample photographs below. If you are not in them then look at  www.ruthmillar.com as there are many more photos and you can get a high quality copy there.
Photographs are copyrighted as per the name on photos.

We would like to say a big thank you to Belfast City Council, Olympia Leisure Centre and everyone that helped from the club.

Saturday dawned bright and sunny, offering perfect race conditions for Olympian Triathlon Club's annual novice aquathon. The race has traditionally targeted novice competitors, but is also used as a pre season warm up race for the more experienced competitors. Therefore, so as not to detract form the novice competitors we had an open race and a novice race, giving prizes to the first male and female open competitors and first second and third male and female novice competitors.

Registration went smoothly with only two no shows, and a few entries also taken on the day. Competitors came from as far a field as Dublin and London . We also had a few competitors back from last year all keen to see how they had improved.

Following the race briefing, shortly after 1pm, 32 competitors made their way to the poolside for the 400m swim. Competitors were divided into 2 waves depending on their estimated swim time. There were a few very impressive swims with the fasted swim in 4mins 59 seconds. .

With the swim leg complete, competitors and marshals made their way to Musgrave Park for the run leg of the race. Some of the more experienced competitors ran the mile to the park using it as their warm up. Others chose to conserve their energy and went by car. The run course was 6 laps totalling 5k. The run route had to be changed at the last minute, due to excavation work in the park. This appeared to be to the competitors' advantage, and did not pose any problems to the marshalling of the course.

Competitors were lined up in order of swim times, fastest swimmer first, slowest last, with the time difference between the first and last competitor being almost 7 minutes. First over the line to take the open race was Dominic McAllister in a time of 21:57. Almost 2 minutes behind Dominic, was Phil Wood in second place in 23:53 and third home was Johnny Boylan in a time of 25:36.

Tony McNulty was next over the line claiming the title of first male novice in a time of 25:41. Chris Adams and Ciaran Hughes took prizes for 2nd and 3rd male novice respectively.

In the ladies race, Sally Anne Boyle took first female novice in a time of 28:56. Sally Anne posted the 3rd fastest swim of the day. Almost a minute and a half later came Barbara Walsh in 2nd place, closely followed by Kate Hill in third place. Winner of the female open category was Ann Mageean in a time of 33:31.

The prize giving and post race refreshments took place in the community centre at Olympia leisure centre. Prizes were awarded by Irish champion Trudy Brown of Olympian triathlon club. It was good to see so many competitors and supporters staying to support the prize winners of the day.

Congratulations to all prize winners and thank you to all competitors for supporting the event.