Male 1. Eanna McGrath Wicklow 2. Trevor Woods Cork 2. Brian Crinion Belpark 2. Liam Dunne Belpark 2. Female 1. Lisa Horgan Limerick 2. Rachel Beck 3Dtri 2. Elena Maslova Piranha 2. Mary Horgan Piranha 2. Some race photos courtesy of Cyclesuperstore: Photos by Cyclesuperstore. On Saturday the 25th June the triathlon community celebrated the 21st anniversary of the now legendary race, the Hell of the West Triathlon in Kilkee, Co.
The race is also the first Premier League race of the season. There was a record turnout with over athletes taking part, the largest field ever for a race of this size in Ireland. There was something of a party atmosphere in the transition area before the start. Athletes, their friends, families and quite a few local holidaymakers had all congregated around the bandstand on the seafront.
At about 9am the Dj started to spin the tunes. You could feel a buzz in the air. During the briefing weaker swimmers were advised to stay near the back for the start and I hope they heeded it. At 10am the gun went off and swimmers made a dash for the first buoy as if their lives depended on it. The first hundred metres is spent fighting for your own piece of the Atlantic, there is miles of open water out there but we all want the one spot. Things had calmed down by the first buoy as we turned out towards the open sea.
It got a little choppy here with some small waves trying to hamper any progress we were making. To the Elite swimmers this was nothing, they got around the course as if it was a paddling pool.
Neil Bolger, a 17 yr old junior from Dublin was hot on his tail. After the first kilometre the front of the race took shape. Trevor Woods took the lead with Eanna McGrath always close behind, never leaving Trevor take too much of a lead. The two in front were having their own private battle and knew it would come down to the run. Trevor was first back into transition but Eanna was only 2 secs behind.
