Michelle Nagle (24) and Niall McCarthy (25) from Mallow have qualified to represent Ireland at the Ironman 70.3 World Championship this Saturday 18th September.  The Ironman World Championship in Utah, USA is a triathlon competition consisting of a swim of 1.9km, followed by a cycle of 90km and run of 21km, and they will represent Ireland in the 25-29 age group category.
The mantra of the Ironman is ‘anything is possible’, and that is certainly the mindset Michelle and Niall choose to live their lives by. Their Ironman story began in 2019 when they both successfully completed the Ironman Ireland Challenge in Youghal, with Niall only learning how to swim ten months before! An incredible achievement for both, particularly as the completion rate for the race was extremely low due to the harrowing conditions which the athletes faced.
Michelle is a primary school teacher in Abu Dhabi, having taught in Gaelscoil Thomáis Dáibhís. Niall worked in CrossFit Mallow and is now a fitness instructor in Abu Dhabi. They qualified to represent Ireland after competing in the Dubai 70.3.
This Triathlon event has a major following on an international scene and the World Championship is the pinnacle of events being run internationally across a number of countries/cities.
Unfortunately, due to COVID restrictions, there will be no family or friends to support Michelle and Niall in person at the event but they have great supporters and followers who will all be watching the event online and giving them plenty of encourage-ment. We hope the luck of the Irish is on their side. Best of luck to this incredible Mallow couple. Details on the event can be found at https://www.ironman.com/im703-world-championship