Colin McDonagh
WESTPORT Triathlete Con Doherty was in the spotlight once more last weekend as he finished second behind Scottish athlete Marc Austin in the British Junior Triathlon Championship in Oxford.
The teenager also finished a highly-respectable eighth place overall in the British Senior Elite Championship, competing with athletes such as Alastair and Jonathan Brownlee who were both selected to represent Great Britain at this summer’s Olympic Games in London.
However, an unfortunate ankle injury that he picked up two weeks ago hampered Doherty again on lap two of that event, but the Belclare native remained strong and finished the race which is considered by many to be one of the UK’s largest triathlons.
“It’s right up there with what I’ve achieved so far but I felt there could have been room for improvement,” the Rice College, Westport student told The Mayo News.
“I felt I had the better of Austin (eventual winner) so that was disappointing. Overall, I feel I could have done better.
“I wasn’t too nervous going into the event, I’m used to it and I just relaxed,” he added.
“For the swim I started behind the Brownlees on the right hand side. My transition coming out of the water was about 20 seconds. The water was very cold and my hands were freezing. I thought my helmet was on right for the cycle but all I could hear was someone shouting at me ‘ten second penalty, ten second penalty’.
”For the cycle I was just off the third group but I managed to get up the front so I avoided all the congestion. On the run I twisted my ankle in a dip on the grass. It happened me about two weeks ago so for the last 2k I was trying to hold on. It was very sore”.
Doherty’s success in Oxford follows up a fantastic week for the 16 year-old as he captured silver in the Intermediate Boys 3000m and won round three of Triathlon Ireland’s Junior National Series in Athy, Co Kildare earlier this month.
He also recorded another impressive victory last week when he won the National Junior Championship at the National Aquatic Centre in Dublin.
He is a busy man for the rest of the summer months too.
“I have an event nearly every weekend from now on. I’m back in England again in mid-July and I have a couple of European events coming up during the summer. But I’m really enjoying it,” he said.
