On Thursday night 8th December, the Salthill Hotel in Galway will play host to an evening of sporting inspiration and entertainment with some of Ireland’s top triathletes giving an insight into their training, racing and performance on the road to the IRONMAN World Championship in Hawaii, Kona.
The World Championship held in the beautiful island of Kona Hawaii is the holy grail of long distance racing across the world. Athletes racing a full distance IRONMAN (3.8km Swim, 180km Bike, 42.2Km Run) spend many months and sometimes many years chasing their dream to race with the best in the world on the ‘Big Island’ Kona.
Ireland has had a host of athletes from across the country race at the event over the past number of years and for the first time in Galway a little bit of Kona will be brought to the West of Ireland by Tri Talking Sport’s Joanne Murphy who will host the evening.
Covering topics across all aspects of triathlon racing from training to nutrition, coaching, performance and racing strategy the event will appeal to everyone from the beginner triathlete planning to dip their toes into the sport to those chasing a personal best in their chosen distance and discipline or a coveted Kona Slot.
The athletes joining Joanne on the night include; Bryan Mc Crystal, former professional footballer now amateur cyclist and triathlete. The Dundalk man took Kona 2016 by storm leading the age group race for much of the 180km bike section, recording a 4:29:29 split and 10th fastest bike on the day. He went on to finish the race ahead of many of the professional field in 66th position overall and was first Irish athlete across the line. Amongst his many accolades Bryan finished 2nd on Stage 2 of the An Post Rás this year, was a jersey wearer in the Mountains Classification in stage 5 and finished 2nd in the Mountains Overall Classification.
Bryan will be joined by Aileen Flynn from Dublin’s Pirahna Triathlon Club. A chartered physiotherapist with the Beacon Hospital she has a string of successes to her name over the past number of years. In 2016 she was first female at the Athy Double Olympic, fastest Irish female at Dublin IM 70.3 and took 3rd place at the National Middle Distance Championships. She also raced Mallorca IM 70.3, won her age group and went on to take 3rd place in her Age group at the full distance IRONMAN Mallorca in September. Aileen raced Kona in 2015 and has her sights firmly set on racing on the Big Island again in 2017.
Galway Triathlon Club’s Ruaidhrí Geraghty will round off the panel on the night, to give us an insight into his road to Kona following his sub 9 hour race and podium finish at IM Barcelona in October of this year. Ruaidhrí is the first member of Galway Triathlon Club to qualify for the World Championship event. Like many, he came into the sport of triathlon in his late 20’s, he was a club runner before taking up the multisport and had has a very successful sporting career to date with a variety of podium finishes locally and nationally aswell as a variety of IM trophies including his IM 70.3 2nd place finish in Dublin this year. He has previously raced and finished the Rás in both 2009 and 2010 and was central to the delivery of IRONMAN Galway in 2011 and 2012.
With a wide range of experience and knowledge on the panel, the evening is sure to whet the appetite of athletes across all levels and abilities. Whether you are already a triathlete, cyclist, swimmer or runner or have never considered participating in any sporting event but just want to be inspired and motivated to achieve your goals in 2017, join us on Thursday 8th December for this interactive, insightful and entertaining evening of sport.
Tickets are €25, with a limited number of ‘Early Bird’ tickets available for €20
Junior athletes are more than welcome, tickets can be requested by emailing tritalkingsport@gmail.com Doors open at 18:30, events starts at 19:00
More information and tickets available on www.tritalkingsport.com