Nevis Cycle & Triathlon Club

The Nevis cycle and triathlon club celebrated tourism week by hosting their second Olympic distance triathlon in downtown Charlestown Saturday. Sponsored by Carib breweries for the second time this event is proving to be a huge hit with both visitors and Nevisians alike, this year was graced by the presence of the Caribbeans finest Triathlete, Trinidadian, Jason Gooding.
Joining him were three other Trinidad team members, Tortola, St Maarten, Grenada, St Kitts, St John, the USA and of course Nevis, Chris Ghiorse (Tortola) Louise Depuy(ST John) last years winner and Tom Dutton(USA) returned for a second year, Chris fighting fit and ready to rumble, and tom injured but determined to race, and louise to defend her crown.
Over 50 athletes gathered on the waterfront in front of a keen crowd of spectators in what turned out to be very challenging conditions, as they moved to start the event the sky opened and rain clouds blotted out the landscape, undeterred, the competitiors took to the now turbulent waters of gallows bay for the swim portion of the event.
First off were the novice Try-a-Triers, attempting their first triathlon on a shorter version of the course, this was won by Dilhan Kellerberg, who only decided to attempt it that same day, it only goes to show that you never know what can happen.
The Olympic (1500mtr/40km/10km) triathletes and the sprint (750mtr/20km/5km) triathletes all took off together to complete their respective distances in the swim, first out of the water was sprint athlete Ojea Samuel of Grenada, a full minute ahead of the next racer Don Baumann of the MUA, Ojea showed his potential to the max by increasing his lead on the bike and then the run to finish in first place in a time of 1:13:13. Second place was taken by Nevis’ own Keith Jones who pulled back through the field on the bike then a very fast run leg, in third was Tortola athlete Ray Wearmouth. In the womens group top honours went to veteran racer Wendy Yaphe of St Kitts in a time of 1:18:59, followed by Ceri whitfield of Nevis, and in third Cynthia Donellan also of St Kitts.
Back at the transition area things were shaping up for the Olympic athletes, first out of the water was Louise Depuy from St John followed by the two favourites for the men Chris Ghiorse of Tortola and Jason Gooding, very swift practised transitions had them out on the bike course in seconds to start the very wet 40kms they had to do, both athletes realising that the other guy was the main competition on this day, things were shaping up for a very tough race.
They swapped the lead on the bike for one lap then Chris decided to push forward and take the race to Jason, his tactics paid off, as his pace proved too much for Jason and Chris found himself pulling away slowly, by the third quarter of the final lap Chris had gained a 5 minute lead over Jason. Going into the run Chris could relax and set a comfortable pace, and despite Jason’s considerable efforts Chris held on to win by a 4 minute margin, and a total time of 2:14:03, a fabulous feat of endurance racing. Meanwhile other feats were being played out that involved the Nevis team, both Reggie and James who had not had good swim legs were fighting to claw back some time on the bike portion of the race, with Reggie looking strong and well ahead of James at the transition to the run. However, Dick luttekes (SXM) was lurking around the corner ready to pounce at any mistake made by our dynamic duo, Reggie held off both Dick, and a hard charging James until the last quarter of the race where both passed him, with Dick holding off James for third place leaving James and Reggie to collect fourth and fifth, both Reggie and James posting sub 2:30 times at the Olympic distance for the first time.
This is even more commendable due to the fact that they were both setting up the course untill an hour before race start, well done guys.
The womens division was equally decisive, with Saskia Schroten (SXM) showing the other women how to run by catching and passing the leader Louise to finish 6 minutes ahead of her at the finish, third place was taken by rising star Shannon Fitzgerald(SK) who despite a very hard fall avoiding a goat, recovered and finished very strong, very well done.
Fourth and fifth places were taken by Jessica Peterman (SK) and Kathie McMurtie (St John). All told, the level of competition was very high this year, which bodes well for the future of the event, in fact enquiries are coming in already for next year.
The Nevis Cycle & Triathlon Club wishes to thank all of the visiting athletes whether from far or near for making it a race to remember, the sponsors for their support and all the volunteers, police, coast guard, and police cadets for braving the elements to help us pull the whole thing together, we also appreciate all the spectators who cheered the athletes on.