Membership of Triathlon Ireland has grown by 15% in 2013 and now stands at 8,450, almost two thirds that of the equivalent national governing body in Britain.
This has partly been inspired by the likes of Aileen Reid, who this year claimed Silver in front of a viewing audience of 41 million at the World Triathlon Series Grand Final.
The National Junior Squad has almost trebled in a year from 6 athletes in 2013 to 17 for the 2014 season, all reaching a standard benchmarked off international development programmes. A recent junior talent identification day, which seeks out 14 – 23 year olds with a competitive swim and run background, attracted over 60 applications.
The number of clubs has risen from 71 to 83 in the past twelve months and 170 events took place through the year. Two thirds of the membership have indicated they will be doing between four and ten events in 2014.
The male to female split stands at 70:30 with the largest cohort being in the 35-39 years age group.
The sport is attracting headline talent as well. “Bressie’ and Rozanna Purcell attracted media interest when making their debuts in the sport as did Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport Leo Varadkar and Dublin Lord Mayor Oisin Quinn.
In 2013 Triathlon Ireland reached a number of significant milestones. What’s thought to be the largest ever team to represent Ireland travelled to the World Championships in London where 277 elite and age group athletes performed well.
Amongst the squad for the first time were 4 paratriathletes, marking a significant step in the process of qualifying a team for the Paralympic Games in Rio.
Elite triathlon racing also returned to Ireland for the first time since 2010 with Waterways triAthlone hosting the ETU Junior European Cup.
“2013 has been a hugely successful year for Triathlon Ireland,” said CEO Chris Kitchen.
“It was fantastic to see such a large and talented team travelling to the World Championships where Aileen picked up a brilliant silver at the Grand Final and our Age Groupers flew the flag and also won a number of medals.”
The sport is obviously on the rise and with a strong demographic within the business community. It always helps to tell the story well and the review of the year outlined above does justice to a sport that is heading in the right direction.
