Tri Talking Sport

Dee is a Galway Girl, based in Dublin, she is a Captain in the Irish Army and has a host of endurance and sporting challenges under her belt including: Ironman, marathon, kickboxing, bodybuilding and powerlifting.  Although she swam as a child she didn’t really fall in love with swimming until she took up marathon swimming in 2011, she now enjoys all forms of swimming from long distance to dips with friends to ice swimming in the depths of winter.

Fergal is also a proud Galwegian and one of the founding members of Atlantic Masters Swimming Club. He took up swimming at the age of 29 and is proudly supported in his endeavours by his wife Norma and three children Ella, Jack & Saoirse. Although Fergal couldn’t swim back then he stubbornly battled through many a swim lesson so that he could earn a PADI diving qualification.  His swimming career and success was built on the back of this initial interest in diving, he now has numerous long distance swimming and ice swimming events under his belt with big plans for the future. 

Both swimmers provide fantastic insight, information and inspiration in this episode in telling their personal story of how they conquered the Channel. 

He has also set and completed a number of multiday endurance challenges which include 12 marathons in 12 days and 24 marathons in 24 days in Ireland. Earlier this year he cycled and ran his way across 5,000km in the US from the Golden Gate Bridge in San Fransisco to Brooklyn Bridge in New York. 

In this episode we delve into his adventure across America, the planning, training, logistics and his life on the road during the American tour. We chat about the highs, the lows and the inspiration to keep pushing his limits in moving towards the end goal of reaching Brooklyn Bridge within 36 days. 

Chris Mintern has to date achieved much racing success locally, nationally and internationally representing Ireland at Junior as well as U23 World Championships. This year he switched his focus from racing short distances to now chasing podiums across middle and full distance events. 

We chat about all things triathlon from training to racing and everything in between. His passion and drive for success is second to none, with his high standards across performance in training and racing he believes he has plenty of results yet to come as he seeks out his best ever race performance. 

This year, Kona, Hawaii will be his 31st year on the big island to call people across the finish line of the IRONMAN World Championships. He is an IRONMAN Foundation Ambassador Team Captain, a member of The IRONMAN Hall of Fame, USA Triathlon Hall of Fame, Running USA Hall of Champions and has recently published his book Finding My Voice. 

After a few years of coming to terms with this life-changing condition, Leo has once again taken up the sport of triathlon as a para-triathlete, supported by his wife Aisling, his 3 children, Lauren, Fia and Aibhinn and his fellow club-mates from Tri Lakes TC.  His journey from serious illness to world champion is one of resilience, determination and courage. His passion and positivity for his family, his fellow athletes and the sport of triathlon is both infectious and inspiring. 

Ray has completed a host of marathon and ultra running events. His running CV includes the Marathon D Sable and its sister event in Peru. He has already this year taken part in two 24 hour running events covering over 100 miles in each event to name just a few of his running endeavors. 

Ray is not only a runner he is also the founder of Marathon Club Ireland and  RunIreland.com. He is race director to a number of running events including Run Galway Bay, Forest Marathon Connemara 100 and has the license to deliver Tough Mudder Ireland.  We get a flavor of his passion for running and events over the course of this episode. 

In this first episode we chat with triathlete Caroline Heffernan from Tri Lakes Triathlon Club in Galway. Caroline, a mum of 2 is an avid triathlete and sports fan despite suffering from Cystic Fibrosis.  She is the first Irish person with CF to complete a full distance triathlon, finishing IRONMAN Barcelona in 15 hours 15 minutes in 2018. Caroline's upbeat and positive attitude shines through as we chat about her journey in triathlon and how she manages her CF to chase her sporting goals and dreams from; triathlons to marathons and everything in between supported by her husband, two children, extended family and fellow Tri Lake TC members.  Her determination and commitment to her health and her sporting goals will no doubt be an inspiration to everyone. 

Joanne Murphy is the voice behind Tri Talking Sport.  An accomplished event MC, live presenter and international sports announcer working with brands and events across a wide range of sectors.

An amateur endurance athlete Joanne has raced at all distances and levels of triathlon since dipping her toes into the sport in 2009, she has completed the New York Marathon on two occasions and the 6k Warrior Swim in Sligo.

She is co-founder and captain of the Galway Baybes endurance female cycling team who hold the Irish Record for the 2,250k Race Around Ireland (2017) and the Race Record for the Donegal Ultra 555k (2018). The Galway Baybes won the Outsider Magazine Audience Choice Award in 2018 for their Race Around Ireland performance. 

A keen advocate for Women in Sport and Women in Business Joanne is one of four Global Ambassador’s for the IRONMAN Foundation’s Women for Tri Initiative and is the newly appointed President of the Business and Professional Women’s Club, Galway (2019)  

Joanne has delivered keynote presentations on her role as a female in sport and business to a diverse range of audiences across Galway, she is currently an Ambassador for Windsor Galway Renault.

https://www.tritalkingsport.com/