Louth athlete set to tackle world's most challenging one day sporting event

Sport by its nature is a challenging endeavor, no matter what the discipline. Be it the ability to take a big hit in the boxing ring, the concentration to sink a difficult putt on the golf course or the accuracy to blast home a goal or vital point to keep your team in the fight for silverware.

However, it is hard to find a sport more testing on the body than the grueling triathlon, an event that envisages athletes swimming, cycling and then running their way past the finish line.

And as if this wasn’t tough enough, the best of the best in this discipline really push themselves to the limit by entering Ironman events. A test which has been taken up by Louth runner Allsun Kelly, who will later this year enter the World Championships.

An Ironman Triathlon is one of a series of long-distance triathlon races organized by the World Triathlon Corporation (WTC), consisting of a 2.4-mile (3.9 km) swim, a 112-mile (180.2 km) bicycle ride and a marathon 26.22-mile (42.2 km) run, completed in that order.

It brings a total distance of 140.6 miles (226.3 km) and is widely considered one of the most difficult one-day sporting events in the world. For context, the Olympic triathlon consists of the much shorter 1.5KM swim, 40KM bike ride and just 10KM of run, showcasing just how tough a test this is.

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Every year, age-group athletes compete in Ironman full-distance races globally for one of a handful of highly coveted slots to the VinFast Ironman World Championship.

Each of the 47 full distance Ironman races in the 2023 qualifying series offers a different number of qualification slots, which are allocated according to the size of their respective age group.

Kelly took part in the latest of these events earlier this month when she made the trip to Estonia to take part in the Tallinn Ironman Race.

25 slots were up for grabs across the various female categories, with Kelly trying to earn her place in the female 30-34 year’s category. The Louth runner finished fourth among those her age, thus booking her place at the World Championships.

The prestigious event will take place on the island paradise that is Hawaii, on Saturday October 14th in Kailua Kona. The islands have been the home of the World Championships since the event’s inception in 1978. It has been ultra-triathletes ultimate target as a result for decades.

The historic Kona race will take athletes through the clear waters of Kailua Bay, along the wind-swept coast, and through the barren lava fields of the Island of Hawaii, providing a unique setting for the ultimate test of strength, grit and heart.  No doubt Allsun will do the Wee County proud.