Morrison finishes season in style

Having swum well, Morrison exited the water in the front group giving herself a strong position into the bike section of the course. A breakaway athlete Jodie Swallow managed to keep a margin on Morrison's small pack of eight girls, however they worked together on the hilly bike course and Morrison kept in contention for a top slot throughout the 40k, 5 lap race.

With such a hilly demanding course the group were able to hold off a chase pack of 15 riders, however the top four ranked athletes were in Morrison's group and she would still have to fight for a medal chance.

Morrison made the transition from bike to run smothly, pushing the pace with three other girls in toe for the first of the 4 laps (10k).

Suffering a 'stitch' on the second lap she faded into fifth place and also unfortunately received a 15 second time penatly for a rule violation (helmet not put in the box) - a rule introduced this year.

Morrison continued not having lost any places in doing so, and finished the race well, passing French athlete Carol Peon, into fourth.

The North West Triathlon Club member was pleased with her result stating: "I'm happy with my position and I raced really well.

To finish in fourth position will really help toward my World ranking and Olympic standing.

"I just have to be consistent next year to be in a good position for London. To win some money is a bonus, and will help pay for my trip."

Aileen will now take part in an Aisian Cup race next week in Disneyland Hong Kong, before taking a well earned break from Triathlon training.

"2011 will be a long season, starting in April the first of the World Cup Series races is in Sydney, and it goes through until Spetember with the Grand Final in Bejing," she said.

Morrison originally from Londonderry, now based in Lisburn, credits her success to her coach Chris Jones and training groups, Lisburn swim squad, and Maryland wheelers. She is also a Sorpts Institute Northern Ireland (SINI) athlete and trains under the supervision of the highly experienced staff there twice weekly.

"I will be looking to recover and train hard for next year's racing, that's where I rely on SINI to keep me in tiptop form until then!" quoted Morrison.