Westport man becomes first Irish man to run Ironman in under eight hours

A FORMER member of Westport Triathlon Club has become the first Irish man to run an Ironman triathlon in less than eight hours.

Westport native Aichlinn O’Reilly made history when he place sixth in the Busselton Ironman in Western Australia with a time of 7.59.04.

This comprised of a 3.9 kilometre swim completed 47 minutes and 46 seconds, after which he cycled 180 kilometres in 4 hours, 11 minutes and 31 seconds and ran a 42-kilometre marathon in 2 hours 54 minutes and 13 seconds.

The previous record was 8.07.37 by Bryan McCyrstal in Challenge Roth in 2018. 

The 28-year-old professional athlete, who is based in Perth in western Australia, had trained for over a year for the event, training full-time in the previous seven weeks.

His girlfriend, Maeve Curley, described his feat as ‘an incredible achievement’.

“He is a brilliant endurance athlete and is ready to make his mark. This is only the beginning,” Maeve said.

Westport Triathlon Club also extended their congratulations, stating in their social media: “Aichlinn always supports and encourages everyone in the club and just wants us all to enjoy and have fun in this sport but it’s impossible not to be in awe of his performance.”