Belvo Challenge Update
BELVO CHALLENGE UPDATE - Week 2
Week 2 Highlights:
- Namibia take Week 2 with 605 KMs
- John Treacy racks up 131 KMs by spending most of the week swimming (Clontarf neighbours have complained to authorities)
- Fiji retain slender overall lead
- Gannongate continues to rock Belvo Challenge with Eddie registering 126 KMs
- Over 14,500 KMs done in week (26% up on last week)
- Ireland lead in Belvo Challenge - 6 Nations
Week 2 results
Rank | Country | WK. 2 |
1 | NAMIBIA | 605.7 |
2 | HONG KONG | 579.0 |
3 | SCOTLAND | 578.2 |
4 | FIJI | 572.0 |
5 | IRELAND | 560.0 |
6 | GEORGIA | 552.0 |
7 | SAMOA | 552.0 |
8 | USA | 548.5 |
9 | ITALY | 534.3 |
10 | ENGLAND | 528.0 |
11 | AUSTRALIA | 523.5 |
12 | CANADA | 517.4 |
13 | SOUTH AFRICA | 515.5 |
14 | SPAIN | 513.2 |
15 | JAPAN | 509.2 |
16 | NEW ZEALAND | 502.8 |
17 | RUSSIA | 502.1 |
18 | ZIMBABWE | 501.0 |
19 | ARGENTINA | 487.5 |
20 | ROMANIA | 484.3 |
21 | TONGA | 478.4 |
22 | KENYA | 473.0 |
23 | BABARIANS | 461.0 |
24 | FRANCE | 415.0 |
25 | PORTUGAL | 410.0 |
26 | URUGUAY | 409.7 |
27 | WALES | 406.3 |
28 | MAORI | 404.5 |
29 | LIONS | 387.7 |
| ||
14,511.7 |
Overall positions:
Rank | Country | Total Points |
1 | FIJI | 1,042.0 |
2 | NAMIBIA | 1,030.6 |
3 | HONG KONG | 1,023.0 |
4 | GEORGIA | 1,007.5 |
5 | SCOTLAND | 980.7 |
6 | CANADA | 974.2 |
7 | SAMOA | 973.0 |
8 | USA | 971.5 |
9 | JAPAN | 951.7 |
10 | RUSSIA | 940.5 |
11 | AUSTRALIA | 935.5 |
12 | ARGENTINA | 930.5 |
13 | ITALY | 924.0 |
14 | TONGA | 911.4 |
15 | SPAIN | 908.5 |
16 | ENGLAND | 907.5 |
17 | SOUTH AFRICA | 907.0 |
18 | ROMANIA | 893.8 |
19 | BABARIANS | 893.0 |
20 | IRELAND | 885.0 |
21 | ZIMBABWE | 880.5 |
22 | NEW ZEALAND | 850.2 |
23 | KENYA | 796.0 |
24 | PORTUGAL | 783.0 |
25 | WALES | 774.3 |
26 | URUGUAY | 761.7 |
27 | LIONS | 753.7 |
28 | FRANCE | 710.0 |
29 | MAORI | 690.1 |
| ||
25,990.3 |
Namibia were the big winners in Week 2 of the Belvo Challenge as the big four of Fiji, Namibia, Honk Kong and Georgia all passed the 1,000 KM mark. However controversy was never far away and while officials tried to deal with the fall-out as a result of Eddie Gannon's rise from nowhere - the so-called Gannongate affair - an even more unlikely hero emerged in the shape (some would say lack of shape) of Namibia's John Treacy. Treacy, whose only previous tangental association with an athletic performance was to waddle around in the latter stages of junior rugby matches, has stunned the Challenge with a score that is almost three times his previous week's performance. "Not since Ben Johnson outsprinted Carl Lewis in the 88 Seoul Olympics have I seen such a pure display of natural talent" said Mervyn Feely, the beleaguered captain of 18th place Team Romania "and no, I'm not implying anything by referencing Johnson and Lewis" Feely quickly added.
14-times Tour de France loser, Lance Armstrong weighed into the Eddie Gannon controversy, yesterday. Voicing his support for Gannon, Armstrong said everyone knows the Belvo Challenge is rife with PEDs (performance enhancing drugs), and queried Pat O’Mahonys performance amongst others? "Eddie still has to do the KMs, so what if he is getting a bit of help, I told Eddie yesterday to keep going, keep doing what he's doing, keep taking what he's taking and to ignore the begrudgers – haters will be haters." Gannon also received messages of support from fellow athletes Ben Johnson and Justin Gatlin. Mo Farah was unavailable for comment.
However the pressure seems to be getting to the pocket rocket from Harold's Cross. Yesterday evening at the launch of his new line of sports and leisure wear – Gannon’s Geansais - he was asked by crusading journalist Paul Crumlin, why he wouldn’t submit to a blood test. The normally mild mannered Gannon told Crumlin he was only answering questions about the f***ing clothes and if he didn’t want to talk about the f***ing clothes then he should f*** off. He called Crumlin a f***ing parasite and a cancer on the sport before being led from the podium in an obvious state of distress.
The other performance of the week where there were suggestions of a doped athlete involved Senior Rugby's Peter O'Beirne who clocked up a total 16KMs against a category average of over 57KMs - easily the worst performance of the entire competition. Coach, Ray Monaghan reckons that O'Beirne was clearly nobbled and said there were big movements against him among Far Eastern betting syndicates. Investigators are known to be looking into the matter.
Ireland lead the way in the Belvo Challenge - 6 Nations and there's an interview with Ireland's captain, Donal Coyle, coming up later in the week when he talks about his courageous decision to transition to a Mens Shedder amongst other things.
This week in the 6 Nations England take on Italy, Scotland play Wales and Ireland are up against France.
€30 Just Eat vouchers on the way to Namibia.
Keep it up - fantastic effort all round. Many thanks to all the captains for their great work - your team is only as good as the encouragement they get.