Aileen Morrison had a disappointing showing in her final race before the Olympic Games. Morrison had fond memories of Hamburg after securing Ireland’s first ever World Series medal taking bronze here in 2010. Hamburg is famed for its fans as close to a quarter of a million spectators turned out to watch the leading ladies in the sport.
Wearing No1 the race started well for Morrison as she got off to a strong start leading the swim half way through the 750 meters. At the swim exit Morrison was 5 seconds down on Oliveira of Brazil and in a good position going into the bike and run elements.
T1 proved to be problematic as a troublesome wetsuit cost Morrison valuable seconds. A lead pack had formed and was forging ahead as Morrison failed to latch on the back. A train of riders came up behind and Morrison got to work with the chasers looking to reel in the 30 strong group up front.
Their persistence paid off as they got within seconds of the leaders coming into the 2ndtransition. In her eagerness to close the gap Morrison failed to dismount her bike before the dismount line resulting in a 10 second penalty which she had to serve on the run.
At the head of the race the Aussie duo of Densham and Moffatt were pulling away over the 5km run. They went on the claim 1st and 2nd respectively while Groff of the USA come home looking strong in 3rd.
“Aileen started well and had an excellent swim. On the run she had to serve a penalty and suffered from a stitch so it went from bad to worse. It was just one of those things, we all have a bad day from time to time but she’ll be right in 2 weeks time.” Commented Triathlon Ireland’s cycling Coach Tommy Evans.
Morrison clearly wasn’t her usual self on the run and she dropped to 36th position at the finish.
The Triathlon Ireland squad will now move to a pre Olympic training camp in Lensbury where they will prepare until the days before the Olympic triathlon on the 4th and 7th of August.
In Ironman racing Eimear Mullan made history becoming the first Irish athlete to be crowned Ironman Champion after she clinched victory in Sunday’s Ironman UK . Mullan completed the 3.8km swim, 180km bike and full marathon in 10hr 8min 44secs giving her an eight minute winning margin over Amanda Stevens of the USA. Mullan has been knocking on the door of a big result for some time but her strong biking and 3hr 18min marathon sealed the win today.