The first BVI Steelman triathlon got off to a blistering start last Saturday. Fifteen swimmers eagerly lined up on Well Bay, ready to begin the Olympic distance. The gun went off at three pm and the swimmers began the testing 1500 meter swim in scorching conditions. As the athletes began to spread out across the course, Mathieu “The Fish” Santerre lead the pack.
The Fish held his lead and was first out of the water in just under 23 minutes, giving team “One Fast Start” just that. Louise Wearmouth came in not far behind for team Wearmouth, with the Chorpedo Spencer just two minutes later, competing individually and for team Super Tubes.
As swimmers streamed out of the bay, Gareth Thomas invincibly led the 40km grueling bike leg for One Fast Start. However, in the 4th lap, disaster struck, as Thomas collided with a vehicle. With Thomas momentarily dazed, Andrew “Tubes” Thompson took his team Super Tubes from 3rd to pole position.
As the cyclists pounded nine laps of the Beef Island course, Tubes maintained his lead finishing the bike course in 69:28 minutes. Closely followed by Mark Smith for team VISAR in second place and Lisa Adamson for Team Kegel in third.
In the male solo competition, the Chorpedo opened up a 12 minute lead over the South African contingent Elliot “Achilles” Steer in second with Jonno “Frank the Tank” in third.
Sue Tucker led the cyclists in the women solo competition, extending her lead over Jessica Broderick 2nd and Yegane Guley 3rd. Into the final but brutal 10km run and Mark Downing was first off the blocks for Team Tubes. Downing completed a blistering record of 43 minutes to win the run and to seal the Steelman trophy for Team Tubes. Zebron came second in the run to give Team Signy overall second place (Tucker, Cullimore, Zebron) with a solid all round performance. Jon Bridgeman completed an excellent run, to come in a close third place, but it wasn’t enough to place his team Drysdale. Team One Fast Start (The Fish, Thomas, Smith) took third with a courageous near death comeback from Thomas
The Chorpedo maintained his lead throughout to take the title of BVI Steelman. With strong debut performances by Achilles in 2nd place and the Tank in the 3rd.
Broderick made a challenging come back on the run but it wasn’t enough to catch Tucker, who took the Steelwoman title. Broderick took silver with Yegane Guley making an excellent debut appearance in 3rd. Full results at www.tribvi.com.
MEN Solo
1. Spencer 2:33:64
2. Steer 2:41:37
3. Jonno 2:49:34
4. Cook 3:10:34
5. Tekeli 3:13:43 DNF 1 lap
6. Barnett 3:45:10 DNF 1 lap
FEMALE SOLO
2. Broderick 3:03:21
3. Guley 3:30:00
TEAM
1. Super Tubes (Spencer, Thomson, Downing) 2:18:15
2. Signy (Tucker, Cullimore, Zebron) 2:27:33
3. One Fast Start (Santerre, Thomas, Smith) 2:28:53
4. VISAR (Perrot, Smith, Koster) 2:32:28
5. Wearmouths (L. Wearmouth, R. Wearmouth, J Smith) 2:34:16
6. Kegel (Lou, Adamson, Reddy) 2:37:16
7. Drysdale (Drysdale, Drysdale, Bridgeman) 2:40:19