Cornyn assisting McCarthy’s Tokyo qualification bid

One of Ireland's leading triathletes, Niall Cornyn from Dunboyne AC, will this week travel 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 have been training together since then with early morning swim sessions in the National Aquatic Centre and biking and running stints in the Phoenix Park.

More recently they have been working on the transitions to streamline this very vital part of the race.

Cornyn continues to do his own training as well, but he cannot compete in international competition while being guide to a Para Triathlete.

However, he can compete in international duathlon and national triathlons.

With most of the 2020 qualifying races cancelled because of Covid, McCarthy has just three races left to to qualify.

Last week he finished in a solid ninth place in the Leeds World Cup event with Paul Carroll from Belfast standing in as guide as Cornyn could not travel.

This week Cornyn and McCarthy will head to Besancon in France on Wednesday with their race scheduled for Sunday 13th June.

They then travel to Geneva, fly to Madrid and on to La Coruna in northern Spain for the second race on Sunday 20th June where they will hope to pick up enough points to qualify for the Paralympic Games in Tokyo in August.