Noble pleased with final hit out

68 top male triathletes and close to a quarter of a million spectators lined up for the infamous Hamburg leg of the ITU World Triathlon Series. Just 2 weeks out from the men's triathlon in London, the sprint distance race attracted a number of top names looking to fine tune before the big day.

Ireland's first ever male triathlon representative at the Olympics, Gavin Noble was lacking race practice over the past number of months. "Hamburg is the perfect opportunity to gain exposure to this intensity of racing" commented Triathlon Ireland's High Performance Director Chris Jones.

With a large field racing over just 750m the swim leg proved to be bruising. Noble was in the thick of it losing his timing chip while rounding the turn buoys with competitors seven and eight abreast. Former World Champion Javier Gomez of Spain took the swim prime thanks to an 8min 32sec 750m swim. Noble's swim training in the University of Limerick paid off as he exited the water just 19 seconds off the leaders.

The leading swimmers managed to form a breakaway on the bike but were quickly reeling in with fifteen of the twenty kilometres remaining. As Noble rejoined the head of the race a small group of four tried their luck at a further breakaway hoping to secure a small advantage going into the run and a share of the $10,000 bike prime.

Onto the 5km run and the big names soon came to the fore. A trio of Gomez, Murray and Justus pulled clear of the pack and reeled in the four ahead. The powerful South African sprinted clear of Gomez in the final 200 meters breaking the tape in 51min 48secs finished off with a 14min 05sec run. Gomez was 2nd while the home favourite Justus was 3rd.

Noble was pleased with his 41st place finish but knew there was room for improvement.

"The pace was rapid and the winning time seriously impressive. Gavin was solid throughout exiting the swim at the back of the leading pack. He biked strongly and finished off with a solid 15min 23sec run."

"It was a good hit out so Gavin will put the head down now for the next two weeks." Commented Triathlon Ireland's cycling Coach Tommy Evans.

Aileen Morrison will line up wearing No1 for Sunday's race where she has fond memories after securing Ireland's first ever podium finish in a World Series race back in 2010. The women's race which gets underway at 3pm (Irish time) and can be viewed on BBC Interactive or www.triathlonlive.tv.