No stopping him: Bryan McCrystal celebrates as he crosses the line in the elite men's National Duathlon Championships at a wet Mondello Park on Saturday afternoon.
Having switched from the road racing season over to IronMan at the end of last summer and set a new national record, Bryan McCrystal is at it again.
This time the Dundalk man bounced back from riding Kerry Group Rás Mumhan last week, where he won arguably the hardest stage, to take victory at the National Duathlon Championships in Mondello Park, Co Kildare, this afternoon.
The Asea-Wheelworx rider is now not only the National Road Series title holder in road race, but is also IronMan national record holder and duathlon champion.
Stickybottle had not time splits for the run-cycle-run event at the time of writing, but we will bring them to you just as soon as they are available.
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However, he was back in about 20th place some 1:40 down coming out of the transition after the first run.
And when a lead group of three formed on the bike, McCrystal picked off those ahead of him and went off in pursuit of the three leaders.
#duathlonchamps @mccrystalbryan now gone clear @Kierantri @CrimsonMintern @CianOReilly61 circa 3/12 laps left pic.twitter.com/d0fbXXkPjM
— Triathlon Ireland (@tri_ireland) April 2, 2016
McCrystal rides away solo from the three-man group he got across to on the bike, having trailed them by about 1:40 at the end of the first run.
He caught them and attacked them before riding away and going into the final run with such a big lead he was unstoppable.
Those three men in the lead group on the bike were Triathlon Ireland development athletes Chris Mintern and Kieran Jackson, both of whom have won a series of duathlons in recent times.
Jackson took victory at the Naas Duathlon just last weekend when McCrystal was riding in Kerry.
Jackson and Mintern were among the pre-race favourites, with McCrystal installed by Triathlon Ireland as the leading favourite.
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Also in the lead trio caught and passed on the bike by McCrystal was UCD's Cian O'Reilly, who won the second instalment of the Naas Duathlon Series back in February.
The medal winners:McCrystal won from O'Reilly, with Jackson taking the bronze medal.
A close look at the first video below - posted by Triathlon Ireland - shows McCrystal sauntering over the line to take a very comfortable win.
If you look at the start of the short clip, you can even see him turning on the home straight to wave to somebody in the crowd, and was completely untroubled by any rivals as he was doing it.
The Louth man is a former pro footballer who once played for Leeds Utd in the UK before returning to his native Ireland to play League of Ireland.
He then tried his hand at triathlon and quickly became one of the best athletes in the country, gaining national selection.
And while he has focussed on road racing in recent years, he jumped back into IronMan last yare to break the national record in Barcelona before taking his duathlon title today.
Last October he first broke the IronMan record in Barcelona, shaving four minutes off the old Irish marker; you can read about that by following this link.
And the following month of November, he went to the US and broke his own record; shaving a massive 10 minutes off that.
It meant he lowered the record after a season racing bikes by 15 minutes between his two attempts. You can read about his record breaking IronMan in Arizona by following this link.
Finish video
The new 2016 Duathlon National Champion @mccrystalbryan crossing the line at today's Mondello Duathlon #BeMore pic.twitter.com/dANDy3hOfS — Triathlon Ireland (@tri_ireland) April 2, 2016
He beat a big field; here's the start
Men's race at the #duathlonchamps underway pic.twitter.com/z3QVhJzcPf — Triathlon Ireland (@tri_ireland) April 2, 2016
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