Aileen Morrison and Gavin Noble will test themselves for the final time before the London Olympics, at the Hamburg leg of the ITU World Triathlon Series.
The sprint distance race should prove the perfect preparation for the duo who are coming off the back of 3 weeks altitude training. Morrison was using the state of the art training facilities in the Sierra Nevada Mountains in Spain while Noble was based a little closer to home at the recently opened Limerick Altitude Centre.
The women’s field in Hamburg will be no push over with the likes of 2 x World Champion Emma Moffatt and the inform Ashleigh Gentle likely to be challenging for top honours. There is however a selection of top names missing.
Morrison has produced some excellent performances this season, taking podium places when the opportunity arises. With a host of London favourites not in the mix this weekend, Morrison again will be looking to take advantage of the situation.
Asked about the pressures’ that come with big results Morrison commented. “I’ve learnt to deal with the pressure. I realise what people’s expectations are that don’t know me but the people that know me and my sport, Chris Jones, my mum and dad and my boyfriend Davy, they know what I’m capable of ”
“They do expect me to try my best and put in everything that I’m capable of so that’s exactly what I’m going to do and I can’t let anyone down if I do that.”
While Morrison has had a good run of results this season Noble has been less fortunate. Injury had disrupted preparations and made qualification itself an impressive result.
Triathlon Ireland’s cycling Coach Tommy Evan’s has been pleased with Noble’s progress over the last number of weeks and feels he’s in the best biking shape of his life.
With London just around the corner High Performance Director Chris Jones see’s Hamburg as vital preparation for Noble. “Gavin hasn’t raced at World Series level in a while due to his injury so it’s a good opportunity to get exposure to this intensity of racing.”
Live coverage of the Hamburg WTS race is available on the BBC Red Button or triathlonlive.tv from 5:20pm on Saturday for the men’s race and 3:30pm on Sunday for the women’s race.
Then on to the Olympic Council of Ireland multi sport training camp at Lensbury/St Marys Twickenham before Olympic competition in Hyde Park.
