Splash & Dash, Gartan 2023 Entries Open, St Patrick’s 5k

A busy weekend for racing with club member performing locally in the the Junior Splash & Dash, Letterkenny AC St. Patrick’s Day 5k, and further afield in the GranGuanche Audax Gravel 2023 in the Canary Islands.

The Splash & Dash was a wonderful event on Sunday morning, organised in conjunction with Triathlon Ireland. 73 junior triathletes from ages 5 to 15 competed in the event, designed to give them a taste of what triathlons are all about. Race distances varied from one length of the 25m pool and one lap of the 400m track for the youngest competitors to three pool lengths and an 800m run for the oldest competitors.

Well done to all the children on completing the course (and receiving their goodie bag) and kudos to all involved for making this such a successful event. The club is planning another Splash and Dash race around May – watch this space for more details!

Damian McGoohan and Nick Fowell are currently competing in the GranGuanche Audax Gravel 2023. This is a gruelling 700km gravel race. At the time of publishing this post Nick is in 57th position and Damian is in 61st. You can follow the event live here: https://dotwatcher.cc/race/granguanche-audax-gravel-2023v

The Letterkenny St Patrick’s Day 5k saw some excellent results from the club members that headed out for the annual event. The two lap event that takes in the Port Road and the Main street twice was as popular as ever. Club Chairman Gavin Crawford came home in 3rd place overall.

St Patrick’s Day 5k results
Gavin Crawford 17:57
Fionnuala Larkin 22:00
Rory Kennedy 24:21
Terence Quinn 27:03
Niamh McDaid (& Douglas) 27:05
Suzie Bogan 27:08

Entries open for Gartan Triathlon tomorrow morning March 20. This year the event takes place on July 29 at 10am and features a 750m swim on Gartan Lough, 18km cycle back towards Letterkenny, and then a 5km run along the shore of the lake.

This week’s training schedule as follows:

Monday 6.30/6.45pm: Speed Session on the track at the Aura.
Warm up at 6.30pm and on track for 6.45pm sharp.

Tuesday 7.45pm-8.45pm: Spinning/Turbo session at the Aura.

Wednesday 7pm-8pm: Lane swimming at the Aura. Online booking/paying available on https://letterkenny247.com/.

Thursday 6.30pm-7.30pm: Strength & Conditioning at No Barriers (formerly Fit Hub), Mountain Top.

Saturday: Two groups for club cycle 8am and 8.30am. 8am group will be 3hrs plus averaging from 26-28kph and faster if you think you’re able. Routes will be posted in advance.
8.30am group, route will be decided when everyone turns up so we can see numbers and abilities. Most recent cycle was 90mins average speed 20 to 24kph.

Sunday: Long run or long bike TBC. Transition practice will be incorporated in the weeks leading up to races.
Please remember to send on results and pictures so we can include them in club updates.

A reminder that 2023 club membership is now due.
Visit https://www.triathlonireland.com/ – select 247 Letterkenny and the additional racing and license offers that you require.