Westport teen wins bronze in New Zealand

SPRINT FINISH Simon Viain of France (who finished second) comes home just in front of Ireland’s Con Doherty during the International Triathlon Union Junior Championships in New Zealand last Sunday.

Doherty brings bronze home from New Zealand


Westport triathlete shines on world stage

Daniel Carey

WESTPORT teenager Con Doherty made history in New Zealand over the weekend, claiming a bronze medal at the International Triathlon Union Junior Championships in Auckland.
The Rice College transition-year student – who’s due back at school later this week – made it onto the podium for the world U-19 event despite only recently celebrating his 17th birthday.
Doherty – who had been confident enough to publicly target victory when interviewed by Mike Finnerty in these pages a fortnight ago – exited the 750-metre swim in the Queen’s Wharf Harbour mid-pack in the field of 75 junior men. His superior bike handling skills became instantly apparent as he cycled his way to the front of the field on the first of the four-laps, 20k bike course.
Taking in a number of technical turns and challenging inclines around Auckland’s city centre, the course suited the fearless Doherty, who despite treacherous rain, set the pace for his competitors and led the race for the majority of the bike leg.
The young Mayo man only made up his mind to compete in the event last month. He told The Mayo News before his departure that the Auckland course was “very hilly” and added: “I’m good on the bike”. He certainly proved that, as he headed out on the 5k run course in the lead.
Doherty was overtaken on the run by South African Wian Sullwald, who strode ahead. Despite fighting off an attack from Frenchman Simon Viain for the majority of the run, Doherty was pipped for silver in the final metres of the race but finished in a fantastic third place in a time of 1:01:59.
“It hasn’t sunk in yet; I had to remind myself where I was,” the current Irish national champion said after the race. “I knew coming into this race I had to bury myself during the cycle and just hang on in the run if I was to get anything out of it, even a top 10. So that’s what I did and I just held on for dear life.”
The result is a breakthrough for Doherty, whose best result prior to last weekend was a top ten at the European Cup level, which earned him the right to take part in the Worlds. It may well be the first of many successes for the talented triathlete, who will have two further years in the 16-19 year old junior category. In addition, Doherty is the first Irish junior – and indeed the first Irish triathlete – to reach the podium in a World Championship Series Final event.
Triathlon Ireland Performance Director Chris Jones was delighted with the result, saying: “This is a fantastic performance from Con, and it comes well ahead of the 2014 target we had set for a Junior World Championship result such as this. The result is a great achievement, and comes off the back of a great deal of development work that has been done by Triathlon Ireland and its coaching staff.”
Olympic triathlete Aileen Morrison summed up the result well, tweeting: “Guts, Balls, No Fear, No Brakes”. It was an apt description.