Ireland’s largest ever representative team of sports competitors will compete at the World Triathlon Championships from Wednesday, September 11th to Sunday, September 15th. No fewer than 277 individuals will race wearing the Irish kit, including Aileen Reid, currently 11th in the world rankings, and 267 non professional triathlon competitors racing in age group bands from 16 to 90.
The overall event wil attract as many as 3,000 participants over courses around central London that will in large part follow the route of the London 2012 Olympics through Hyde Park and surrounding areas.
Minister for Transport, Tourism & Sport Leo Varadkar met with the team as they prepared to leave Dublin: “Ireland is making huge progress in triathlon and it’s a great achievement to be sending our largest ever team,” said Minister for transport, Tourism and Sport Leo Varadkar who met the team yesterday prior to their departure. Varadkar himself competed in a sprint triathlon in Abbotstown earlier this year.
Age group competitors pay their own entry and travel fees but will have the support in London of officials and support staff from Triathlon Ireland. They achieved the required qualification levels to take part during the Vodafone and Kinetica sponsored national series in Ireland through the summer months and will be one of the largest national groups taking part.
“We have a huge Irish team travelling to London so it’s great to have vocal support like that when you’re racing,” said men’s elite competitor Bryan Keane from Cork. “I hope I can give them something to shout about in my race on Sunday.”
In the Junior Women’s race Emma Sharkey will be lining up for the first time at a World Championships. As with many of Triathlon Ireland’s Junior Squad athletes, Sharkey is an accomplished swimmer and will be expected to push the pace early on. Sharkey has been training in Leeds with many of Team GB’s top juniors so she is no stranger to racing against the best in the world.
Ireland will also have a Paratriathlon team racing for the first time at a major Championships. Nicolas Dewalque and Michael Delaney will compete in the visually impaired categories while Mark Phillips and Denton Howard compete in an arm impairment category.
Paratriathlon will feature as a Paralympic Games event for the first time in Rio 2016 and is being targeted by Paralympics Ireland and Triathlon Ireland as a valuable additional opportunity for Irish athletes to excel on the highest platform.
Triathlon Ireland CEO Chris Kitchen spoke of the emphasis on Paratriathlon in his ‘Leaders in Sport‘ interview with Sport for Business earlier this summer. The Governing Body will hold a paratriathlon talent identification day on the 24th of November.
One of the main specialist sponsors of the World Triathlon series which has taken in events across New Zealand, Japan, the United States and Europe is Chain Reaction Cycles, now one of the world”s largest online bike stores but which started as a small family business in Northern Ireland a little under 30 years ago.
Sports Tourism Seminar at Croke Park (September 19th)
Sport for Business 20/20 at Ulster Bank HQ (October 8th)
The Business of Youth Sport Seminar (November 28th)
