Is she the first nun in Ireland to participate in a triathlon?

Sr Fionnuala Lynch, IBVM, flew the flag for the Loreto Missions as well as Our Lady’s Hospital for Sick Children when she competed in a national event in Athlone called the Waterways Ireland triAthlone on 18 July.

The multi-sport endurance event consisted of swimming, cycling, and running in immediate succession over various distances. Triathletes need to be proficient in all these fields and put in good consistent performances across all three fields. However, the Athlone event did have a number of different categories which catered for Beginners to Elites.

Speaking ahead of the event, Sr Fionnuala said that while she would not class herself as a sporty person, “I do enjoy walking very much and being surrounded by nature. I also use the bike a lot with the environment in mind.”

It was only in January that she decided to put her name in for the triathlon. Working at Inchicore College of Further Education, a few other members of staff, who have taken part every year, were putting their names forward and cajoled the Loreto Sister into giving it a go.

According to Sr Fionnuala, a number of the staff in the college decided to avail of the nearby parks and signed up to walk once a week in January whenever a few of them were free. “Then another colleague began to talk about a triathlon that takes place every summer in Athlone and that we would all be fit enough to take part,” she recalls. “In May, a colleague registered a few of us and the rest is history!”

Despite the huge demands of the event, she only began training seriously in June. “I was doing well and had started to build up my swimming and to tackle the running. By the end of June I had reached 4km in running and could manage 10 lengths of the pool. So I was quite happy with this and felt I still had adequate time to be fully prepared.”

But as luck would have it, she then got Sciatica and could hardly walk for a fortnight, never mind do any training. She was left wondering whether she would have to cancel the triathlon or not. But at her last session of physio before the race, she was given the all-clear.

"I love cycling; it is my usual mode of transport to work. I also enjoy swimming, but I dislike running. I cycle to the Phoenix Park each morning and do the full perimeter which includes a few hills! I then slowly run the length of the Park.” But swimming in a triathlon is the real test. “I swim in a 25 metre pool, so I need to be able to do about 15 lengths.”

Anyone who would like to support Sr Fionnuala’s fundraising for the Loreto Missions and Our Lady’s Hospital for Sick Children can still do so by texting her, emailing her or contacting her through Loreto Crumlin.