Top title for Niall Cornyn

TRIATHLON

Dunboyne athlete Niall Cornyn produced a brilliant performance at his first attempt at a middle distance triathlon in Dungannon on Saturday.

The Meath man won the title with a superb individual display to land the BMW Senior Middle Distance event.

Having never even run an individual half marathon before this was a huge test of endurance, but he really proved it running 75 minutes to go from from two minutes down on the leader starting the run to win by five minutes.

This was a great performance to bring this title to Dunboyne and Meath and Cornyn came close to beating the course record, missing it by four minutes partly because the swim was 2.2k instead of 1.9k.

Earlier this year Cornyn travelled to France and Spain in a bid to help Cork's Donnacha McCarthy qualify for the Tokyo Paralympics.

McCarthy is a visually impaired triathlete who lost his sight at the age of 11. He completed his studies in DCU with a Masters in IT and now works for Vodafone in Dublin.

Last November Triathlon Ireland asked Cornyn to become one of three guides to help McCarthy compete in the 2021 World Cup series with a view to making Tokyo.

The pair trained together since then with early morning swim sessions in the National Aquatic Centre and biking and running stints in the Phoenix Park. Cornyn continued his own training as well, but he could not compete in international competition while being guide to a Para Triathlete.