Elite triathletes Aileen Morrison and Gavin Noble raced in the blistering heat of the Huatulco World Cup in Mexico on Saturday afternoon while Conor Murphy travelled to Kenya.
Morrison swam well to exit with the leaders before being joined by a number of other athletes to form a lead group of 14.
Morrison’s hard work on the bike over recent weeks paid off as she remained to the fore up the major hill of the day. Eventual winner Juri Ide of Japan stormed out of T2 with Morrison in 5th.
Over the 10km run she managed to move up one position to finish 4th just over a minute behind the winner.
While Morrison will be disappointed not to make the podium it’s another step in the right direction, backing up last weekend’s World Championship Series 4th place and adding more valuable Olympic Ranking points to her hall.
“It’s all about consistency at the moment. I’d rather be consistent than have up and down performances so I’m happy with another 4th in tough conditions and against tough competition.” Morrison said afterwards.
The men’s race set off under the midday sun with Noble swimming well in the lead pack.
His race took a turn for the worst out on the bike course though as he was forced to pull out of the race. American Matt Charbot made a spectacular come back after a bike crash to go on and win, giving him a 2nd Huatulco victory in his career.
On the other side of the world, newcomer to the elite ranks Conor Murphy has notched up one of his first professional wins at the Mombasa ITU African Continental Cup in Kenya.
Murphy has made big strides since turning professional with this African Cup win another sign of this.
