TAKING OVER THE WORLD: Brian Kennelly took out his age group at the ITU World Triathlon Age Championships at Auckland last week. Photo: NICK McGRATH 1024nmchamp1
BRIAN Kennelly knew what to expect at the 2012 ITU World Triathlon Age Championships in Auckland, New Zealand, last week.
He’d been to two world events before.
He knew the bike leg of the Olympic distance triathlon would be demanding and with horrific weather conditions making swimming in Auckland’s harbour resemble a dip in the Antarctic, he knew the swim leg would be tough too.
But not even Kennelly imagined he’d end it all as a world champion.
Competing in the 60-64 years age group at the championships, Kennelly completed the 1500 metre swim, the 40 kilometre bike ride and 10km run in a time of two hours 20.55 minutes to finish ahead of 64 other competitors from around the world.
He completed the swim in 26.11 minutes (third fastest time in his division), the cycle in 1:07.41 (second fastest) and the run in 40.26 (second fastest) to prove consistency prevails.
So much so, Kennelly finished almost two minutes ahead of his nearest rival - Philip Hanley in 2:22.54.
“I was hoping I would do well,” Kennelly said.
“I was pretty well prepared and trained hard so I was expecting to do well, but you never know who is going to enter in the world.”
He added smiling: “You’re up against anyone who is stupid enough to do these things.”
Kennelly, who finished 295th overall in the Olympic distance event, was joined by Luke Chalker and Tristan Harrison at Auckland.
Chalker, from Cowra but boarding at Kinross, competed in the 16-19 age group and completed the shorter sprint distance event in a time of 1:08.01 to finish 24th in his age group and 57th overall.
Harrison did equally well.
The 20-year-old finished in 1:10.04 to run 14th in the 20-24 age group and 108th overall.
“They both did phenomenally well,” Kennelly enthused.
“They’re both at the lower end of their age group. They’ve got another four years in those age groups and they competed really well considering the standard of competition they were up against.
“I was thrilled for them both. Luke ended up beating Tristan, not by much, but they’ve both got great potential to go on and do well after this. That’s really exciting.”
A former runner, Kennelly enjoys competing in triathlons simply because it’s an easy way to keep fit.
He said training for an event like the ITU World Triathlon Age Championships was perfect motivation.
It gave him a goal to strive for.
“I really enjoy the benefits of being fit and I need a goal to help and assist me with that,” he said.
His next goal is an Ironman in 2013, which would consist of a 3.8km swim, a 180km ride and finish with 42.2km run.
But right now, Kennelly said he is just enjoying a break.
“I don’t want to thrash my body and kill my body too much because I value my health and well being,” he said.
