Ireland’s Murphy selected as pacer for 'fastest Ironman on the planet' effort

Kelly Murphy Eileen Burns TT — Kelly Murphy has represented Ireland on the track all over the world - and at the road Worlds and Europeans - and now she is part of an historic event that seeks to redefine the boundaries of the Ironman triathlon distance (Homepage photo by Toby Watson)

Ireland's Kelly Murphy has been selected by Ironman world championships silver medalist Kat Matthews to be one of her drafters on the bike leg as she attempts to be the first woman to go sub 8 hours for the Ironman distance.

Irish pursuit record holder, Murphy, is part of the Irish team pursuit quartet that has repeatedly broken the national record over the last two seasons and claimed bronze at the Europeans last year.

Murphy also won the individual pursuit at the St Petersburg World Cup last season and was part of the Irish line-up that won team pursuit gold at the same meeting. She is also the former Irish elite TT champion, from 2018 and 2019, is the reigning Irish pursuit champion and has competed at the road Worlds and Europeans.

Murphy (32), who is based in the UK, rides for The Independent Pedaler Nopinz. She is one of three riders from that team who will be drafters for Matthews on the bike leg of her sub 8-hour attempt; the other two being Jennifer George and Alex Clay.

Matthews has selected a total of six riders she will draft from during the 180km bike leg of the Ironman. The other three riders, also based in Britain, are Emily Meakin (AWOL O’Shea Cycling Team), Frankie Hall (Loughborough Lightning) and Leah Dixon (Bianchi HUNT Morvélo).

Two more riders will be added to the named six and those eight will then be split into four pairs, which will take turns to pace Matthews during the bike ride. It is a tactic that should ensure her bike leg is much faster than in the regular Ironman competition environment, where drafting is banned.

The ‘Pho3nix Sub7 Sub8’ triathlon in Dresden on Sunday, June 5th. is a no rules effort to support four of the world’s leading triathletes to be the first on the planet to go under the seven and eight hour markers for the Ironman distance; 2.4mile (3.8km) swim, 112mile (180km) bike and 26.2mile (42.2km) run.

Olympic gold medalists Alaistair Brownlee and Kristian Blummenfelt will try to break the the mythical 7-hour marker for men. And the women who will seek to go under eight hours are the 2012 Olympic triathlon champion, Switzerland’s Nicola Spirig, and Great Britain’s Kat Matthews, who only took up triathlon in 2015 but was runner-up at the worlds in St George the weekend before last.

Lara Gillespie attacks Dolomite stage as Giro hits high mountains — Kat Matthews is one of two world class female Ironman triathletes who will attempt to go under eight hours in a special event in Germany next month, with Irish international Kelly Murphy among the six pacers chosen for the bike leg

Video - Italy's hero Balsamo mobbed mid-stage during Giro TT — Kat Matthews is one of two world class female Ironman triathletes who will attempt to go under eight hours in a special event in Germany next month, with Irish international Kelly Murphy among the six pacers chosen for the bike leg

Just as the Nike Breaking 2 project used pacers to help Eliud Kipchoge break the two-hour barrier in the marathon, the Pho3nix Sub7 Sub8 is an event organised outside usual competition rules. It is specifically being held to see if the four starring triathletes can go under the 7-hour and 8-hour marker.

And that means the four triathletes can use a team of up to 10 drafters – spread as they wish between the swim, bike and run legs. Murphy and the other five cyclists chosen by Matthews will draft her on the bike leg in a bid to make that part of the event as fast as possible. Matthews can also have two other pacers for the swim or run and some of her cycling pacers could also pace her in the water or on the run.

Norwegian Blummenfelt, who won the men’s title at the recent worlds, is the men’s world record holder for Ironman, doing 7:21:12 in Mexico last November. The women’s world record is 8:26:18 seconds, set by Daniela Ryf (Switzerland) at Kailua-Kona in Hawaii in 2018.

Going sub 7-hour for men and 8-hour for women for the Ironman distance has been regarded as unattainable for years, as the sub two-hour marathon was viewed for decades. However, if the triathletes go under seven or eight hours, it will not count as a world record.

Drafting is banned on the bike in Ironman, meaning the ‘Pho3nix Sub7 Sub8 powered by Zwift’ - which is based on each athlete having 10 drafters - will be outside the rules an official Ironman world record attempt must comply with.