Joey Hannan 2024 – Race Report
On the first weekend of good weather in quite a while, clear skies and an early morning chill gave way to a perfect day for racing in Limerick. The immaculate grounds of the University of Limerick and the facilities of UL Sport played host to Joey Hannan Memorial. The Race briefing was followed by a round of applause to honor the life of Lynne Algar, our former member, coach and friend, who died just a month ago. Lynne’s contribution to Triathlon in Ireland and Limerick was enormous, with many of the athletes racing today having been influenced by her.
Racing got underway with the Olympic distance event – this is the only pool based Standard distance triathlon in Ireland, with many athletes using the challenge as a springboard to early season middle and long distance events. A Limerick TC trio led the way in the pool, with last year’s winner Ronan Costelloe swimming the 1500M in 22:38, followed by rookie Jade Murphy and Ray Kearney. Sub 25min swims also came from Rose Lynch (Galway TC), Eilis Lynch (Limerick TC), Michael Scully and Stephen Chambers (South Coast TC).
The Bike leg took riders out the old Dublin Rd towards Nenagh, before a technical return through Annacotty village. Ronan Costelloe was first back with a bike split just over the hour, with Michael Scully, Stephen Chambers & Ray Kearney in pursuit. The run route took athletes on laps around the Maguires pitches, and it was here that Michael Scully put in a super run split to claim gold by 40s over Ronan. Third place went to Stephen Chambers.
On the women’s side, Limerick Shona Keane, made up an 8 minute deficit on the swim to be the first back on the bike leg, and then led comfortably to the finish to claim top spot, adding to her Limerick Duathlon win earlier in the year. Eilis Lynch took 2nd and Rose Lynch 3rd.
The second wave of swimmers off were in the Try distance. This distance includes many 14-15 year olds, as well as seniors dipping their toes into triathlon for the first time. Rian Horgan (Limerick TC) in his first Joey, led all the way from his Limerick Swim Club teammate Nathan Shinners, with Predator TC’s Alan Haugh taking 3rd place.
For the girls a trio from Predator took the podium – well done to Sinead Green, Ameile Bocquet & Sophie Currie.
On the Senior side, well done to Cathal McCarthy, Richard McGrath and Seamus Murphy: Fiona Riordan, Sinead Ryan & Elaine Crowley, we really hope you enjoyed your day and will come back for more.
Our Sprint distance event was the biggest, with 2 waves of athletes. The temperatures were rising and our run course got busy. On the women’s side, Anna Feenan had the fastest swim, but it was Limerick TC’s Lisa Horgan, who was first across the line. In her first event Anna was delighted with second place. Aishling Bohan took 3rd.
The Junior winner was another Horgan – Lisa’s eldest son Darragh (who has recently qualified for the European Junior open water swim championships) A great day out for the family.
Full results are here:
Joey Hannan Triathlon (2024) Results | SportSplits
Prize winners can contact us at joey_race_secretary@limericktriathlon.com to arrange.
We don’t do medals, but we do have spectacular photographs from Gordon Thomson, these can be seen and downloaded from
Our huge thanks to our volunteer Marshalls, Triathlon Ireland officials, the Red Cross, An Garda Síochána, UL Buildings and Estates and UL Sport, as well as our sponsors.