Kevin Thornton and Derval Devaney claimed the Irish Middle Distance title in Athlone on Sunday as the town hosted the Middle Distance National Championships.
The Championships attracted a strong field including a number of talented international athletes. Kevin Thornton would remain locked in a battle with professional racer Fraser Cartmell of Scotland with just seconds separating them after the 1.9km swim and 90km bike. Onto the half marathon run and Thornton’s 1:18:56 was enough to pull clear for the victory in a time of 3:58:53.
Cartmell ran a 1:20:10 half marathon to finish 2nd in 4:00:05 with Aidan Callaghan holding off the challenge from Great Britain’s Duncan Shea-Simonds to finish 3rd in a time of 4:11:16. 3rd place Irish male in the National Championships went to Waterford Triathlon Club member, Emmet Kelly.
Thornton is set to race the Ironman Dublin 70.3 on August 9th and looks in good form 4 weeks out from the race.
The women’s race saw Ali Rowatt from Edinburgh cross the line with a sizeable advantage in a time of 4:33:14 with Claire Shea-Simonds from Leicester in 2nd place. The leading Irish lady and National Champion was Derval Devaney who produced a 31:21 1.9km swim, 2:37:16, 90km bike and 1:37:30 21.1km run to finish in a time of 4:50:38.
4th place overall and 2nd in the National Championships was Maire-Trona Keane followed by Jacinta O’Duffy, 5th overall and 3rd in the Championships.