Triathlon Ireland is reaching out to expand its youth base with another successful talent identification day undertaken last weekend.
70 14-23 year olds were invited for the swim – run time trials, from a total application of more than 100.  Those under 16 completed a 200m swim and 1500m run while the distances were doubled for those in the older group.
The stars of the sport were fully behind the event as well with both Olympians Aileen Reid and Gavin Noble in attendance, answering questions from the junior competitors and parents.
In the past three years Triathlon Ireland has run talent identification days every 6 months.  It has established a successful junior program as part of the remit of high performance director Chris Jones and the results are starting to show with the National Junior Squad picking up a host of top 10 results at European Cup events throughout the 2012 season. The highlight was a bronze medal for Con Doherty at the recent Junior World Championships in New Zealand.
With the Youth Olympics less than 2 years away Jones recognises the opportunity this poses.
“We have a strong squad of athletes at the moment so we’ll be targeting this event in China in 2014. Qualification will be tough but we have athletes who are capable of competing with the best in the world.”
Vodafone and Kellogs Nutri-Grain are involved in sponsorship with Triathlon Ireland but there will be increasing opportunities at youth level in this fast growing sport.