Large turnout for Liam Ball Triathlon

LEICESTER based Portadown man Connor Murphy and local woman Joanne Doran, were the individual winners at Sunday's 25th Liam Ball Triathlon, which attracted close to 200 entrants to the Templemore Sports Complex and served up a colourful and exciting Swim/Bike/Run spectacle, enjoyed by spectators and participants alike.
By The Newsroom
Published 3rd Jun 2010, 11:13 BST

The North West Tri Club and Derry City Council organised event, incorporated the Ulster Sprint Championship and both individual winners claimed their titles in very convincing fashion.

Murphy took advantage of a brilliant swim to build up an unassailable lead which grew to over three minutes by the end of the 750m Swim; 20K Bike and 5K Run.

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The former top Irish junior was chased out of the Pool and into the Bike section by local star Colm Quigley who unfortunately paid for his efforts by fading badly on the Run to finish out of the medals by OLympian TC's Paul Carroll and Sean Featherstone of Newry TC.

Quigley however did enough to retain his top local title and won his Age Group (35--39). Another NW Tri Club man Paul McConnellogue did very well for sixth overall and second M40--44; Gary O'Donnell, Paul McGilloway and Frankie Dunlop each took Age Group podium places.

Joanne Doran built on her recent Limavady win with her storming Bike leg propelling her to an near 90 seconds victory margin over Letterkenny's Margaret Kelly who overhauled Caron Mullen on the run.

Joanne is looking good and with this win behind her will view the rest of the season with confidence. Buncrana's Grainne Neary did well in her first Triathlon to win the Junior category and Roisin Lynch also impressed, taking the F60 age group victory.

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A feature of this years event was the participation,in Relay format of Liam Ball's three daughters, Lianne, Kerrylee and Angelina and the presence of their mother Anne,alongside Liam's sister, Kathleen.

Danny Sheerin and Terry Donnelly were both completing their 25th successive Liam Ball and were duly acknowledged by a special award, presented on behalf of the Ball family by Kathleen McGlinchey.

The extensive awards presentation was conducted by the Mayor, Cllr Paul Fleming; Gerry McDermott, chairman of the North West Tri Club; Karl Vekins representing Tri Ireland, Ulster Branch; top Irish International Triathlete Aileen Morrison and members of the Ball Family.

Related topics:Portadown