By Noelle Lowney
The annual Jailbreak Triathlon hosted by the local Cobh Triathlon club took place on Saturday September 6th 2014 in Cobh. This is the third consecutive year that this national sporting event was held with sponsorship from the Port of Cork and local businesses. The ECCG group was on hand to take some memorable photographs of the extraordinary events of the day. Sunny skies and calm waters greeted competitors in their escape bid as well as photographers capturing the event on camera. The event also attracted huge crowds who lined the streets in their droves to cheer on the race participants.
The multi-stage competition involved the completion of three continuous and sequential endurance disciplines – swimming, cycling and running in immediate succession over various distances. The levels catered for in this flagship event were Olympic and Sprint triathlon distances. The Olympic distance consisted of a 1,500m swim from Spike Island to Cobh followed by a 40km flat fast cycle race finishing with a 10km run along the Cobh waterfront and promenade and back to the heart of the Cobh town centre. A shorter distance was available for the Sprint option consisting of a 750km swim, 20km cycle and 5km run. Relay teams consisting of 3 individuals also participated on the day – one completing the swim, one the cycle leg and the remaining person doing the run.
Over 600 triathletes from all over Ireland and afar competed in this event which saw previous winners Trevor Woods and Lorna Wolfe take part. All were competing for the fastest and overall course completion time including ‘transitions’ from the individual swim, cycle and run components. Prior to the race each competitor was fitted with an electronic timer device to their ankle used to track and monitor their performance throughout the 3 stage event.
Shortly after 2pm competitors in the Olympic event, who had already been transported across to Spike, gathered for the start of their race, which commenced at around 2.15pm. Meanwhile, competitors in the Sprint event made their way to Whitepoint for their 3pm start. Both events commenced with a swim in open water without stopping, the Olympic competitors swimming from Spike Island to Cobh while the Sprint competitors swam along the shorefront from Whitepoint to the town centre. On completion of the swim competitors made their way to the transition area where they changed gear to begin the cycle segment through the main street of Cobh town and out the coast road.
The bright coloured outfits of the cyclists, together with their athletic prowess were admirable as they were cheered on by the clapping spectators. We availed of the opportunity to capture the participant’s facial expressions of intense determination, hard hitting motivation and undefeatable attitude on camera.
On completion of the cycle segment the competitors exchanged bicycles for running shoes and finished with a run ending in the centre of Cobh town. 
Of course we were present at the finishing line to capture the emotion and delight of those who had completed the triathlon reaping the rewards of their strict and challenging training regimen, many of which participated in support of various charities such as animal welfare groups and cancer societies.
The winners of the races for both male and female were:
Olympic Distance
Male – Trevor Woods, Tim Mahony and John O Connell. Female – Donna Materson, Denise Compton and Jessica Bruton. Relay Team: Kevin Curran, Ken Devine and Mit Billy Carr
Sprint Distance
Male – David Fox, John Howlett and Peter Fagan.
Female – Elena Maslova, Dena Hogan and Marie Keane. Relay teams – Louis O Sullivan, Thomas O Neill and Shane Roche.
The event finished later that evening with a presentation to the winners. As crowds dispersed to return home Cobh returned to normality. We headed home to review our images to remind us of the sporting pedigree and sheer determination of those who took part in this prestigious county Cork sporting event.
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