News

The Europe Triathlon Sprint & Relay Championships took place in Balikesir, Turkey, this weekend, with several Irish athletes in action throughout the weekend.

In the Men’s Elite event, Russell White, James Edgar, and Jonathan Oakey were all in action across the short, sharp, sprint distance event. White was the best place Irish athlete with 34^th overall.

However, with the short sprint distance format comprising of only a 400m swim, 10.7km bike, and 2.2km run in the semi-final stages, the Irish men did not progress to the A-Final of the event with the top 30 athletes. Despite this, the event also holds a B-Final where athletes will battle it out to finish as high as possible in the remaining rankings.

The Final format sees the distance reduced even further, to a 270m swim, 8km bike, and 1.7km run.  In the B-Final White was 4^th overall, with Jonathan Oakey 8^th in the same final despite serving a 10 second penalty on the run. His time saw him ranked 22^nd overall in the U23 category. Edgar did not start in the B-Final.

In the Junior Men’s race, Ireland was represented by Mathys Bocquet, Ethan Doherty, and Senan McDonnell, finishing 40^th, 48^th, and 58^th respectively overall. The top 30 places were decided in the A-Final, with places 30^th to 60^th decided by the B-Final. Meanwhile, Saoirse O’Brien was in action in the Junior Women’s race, finishing 42^nd overall.

The Junior Mixed Team Relay climbed its way to 12^th overall, ahead of its starting number of 15. While the Senior Team finished 15^th overall to equal their starting number.