Gilmore claims top four finish in Spain - The Stratford Observer

Gilmore claims top four finish in Spain

Stratford Editorial 9th May, 2017   0

STRATFORD Triathlon Club’s Seanin Gilmore produced an impressive performance to finish fourth overall at the European Duathlon Age Group Championships.

Gilmore competed in the 45-49 age group category in Soria, Spain, representing Ireland in the sprint race in what was her first international event.

The sprint race started with a 5km run through around a park in the centre of Soria. It was a fairly gruelling run as it comprised a series of straights through the park, with sharp turns at each end, half of which were on a steady incline.

There was then a final run up a steeper incline to transition. Gilmore was tenth in her age group after the first run, although she found it impossible to gauge her position during the course of the race as all the over 40 women had started together.




The bike leg comprised 2 x10km loops. Although the hills on the bike course had seemed fairly easy when doing a bike recce a couple of days earlier, they presented a serious challenge after a hard 5km run and straight into a headwind!

There were four hills and, happily, plenty of long and very fast descents, making it a fairly technical but fast course.


Gilmore overtook much of her competition during the bike although she was not aware of it at the time, as she came into T2 in second position not realising how close she was to a medal at this point.

The second run was a 2.5km loop through the park and certainly felt as tough as it could get after such a hard bike ride.

She was overtaken by two women and finished fourth overall, which delighted Gilmore, who only started cycling and racing less than a year ago.

Report compiled by Paul Hawkins.

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