Nevis Cycle & Triathlon Club

A beautiful Nevis day greeted both spectators and athletes visiting Nevis for the third annual Olympic Triathlon, the whole site decorated by one of the main sponsors Carib Breweries. With 70 athletes attending from England, Canada, USA, France, Martinique, Barbados, Jamaica, Trinidad, Sint Maarten, St Martin, Puerto Rico, Tortola, St Kitts and home team Nevis, it was the best field to date, and the stage was set for a tough race. Local favorites from Nevis and St Kitts Reggie Douglas, James Weekes and Shannon Fitzgerald lined up against the Caribbean’s finest Triathlete Jason Gooding and world ranked age grouper Tom Dutton of the USA, an off form but still dangerous Chris Ghiorse, last years winner, plus a couple of serious looking contenders from Martinique.
This event was already different from last year, with so many athletes entering from outside the region, it felt like an international meet, and the field was being strengthened by the addition of the Medical University of the Americas(MUA) students, who had put down their books briefly for an afternoon of fun in the sun. Also present from the MUA was Dr Gordon Avery, who at 72yrs young was by far the elder stateman of this event and he was entered in the Sprint category, it just goes to show, you are never too old.
After the race briefing the athletes made their way to Gallows bay for the swim start, the water was almost perfect for the swim apart from a rocky beach entrance/exit, the first entrants to go were the Try-a-Triers, Erica Guilbert (NEV) and Nia from the MUA, only two, but game is game and willing is willing, so off they went to a huge round of applause.
The Sprint and Olympic athletes then started together for their swim leg, first out of the water was Claudine Pinceau (Martinique) in a time of 15.33, followed by Emma Saaltink (Canada) and Natividad Torres (Puerto Rico), Natividad had been entered in the Olympic but her bike and gear never appeared, so she gamely entered the sprint event on a mountain bike a pair of loaner running shoes.
The first male sprint swimmer out of the water was St Kitts very own Ninian C/Blake with a time of 17.39 followed by Xavier Maizeroi and Ludovic Belfit, both from Martinique, this race was definitely on.
Whilst the Try –a –Triers were starting their run leg and the sprint athletes taking to the bike, the fastest of the Olympic swimmers were completing their second lap of the swim, in fact Jason and Manuel Paula (Mart) were so quick they beat some of the sprint athletes out of the water with their times of 28 minutes plus. A very concentrated and fit looking Jason put the most distance between him and second placed Manuel, with a sprint to the transiton area and a lightning fast transition to the bike, he was on fire and set to take it to the competition, in third place was a very determined Richard Jankowski (Mart). Reggie and Tom and Chris were 6 minutes behind after the swim with a lot of work to do to catch the lead guys, james was a few minutes behind them, and you know he was looking forward to the run, where he hoped to shine.
Erica came storming back on her run to finish well ahead of team MUA in the Try-a-Tri, her very first triathlon and showing everyone that she is well capable of the sprint next time around, well done!
As the heat increased the athletes all started to feel the weight of the Nevis sun, on this unreasonably hot afternoon, in the male sprint division Jessie Mulcaire stamped his authority on the rest of the men using all his experience and a very fast run to take 1st place in 1:24:43, with first time triathlete Adam dave of the MUA taking second and Keith Jones in third. For the women 16 yr old Emma Saaltink from Canada stretched out her lead to take a well deserved first place in 1:27:29, a star of the future, close on her heels came the fiery Natividad Torres of Puerto Rico in her borrowed running shoes, with 17 yr old Claudine Pinceau of Marinique in third.
Jason Gooding was never in any danger and he took 1st place in style, with a time of 2:26:33, a great performance, as he was rushing off to catch a flight so he could compete in Curacao the next day? in second place was Richard (the terminator) Jankowski and third Manuel Paula both from Team Martinique. Fourth place was taken by Michael Bacon of SXM, followed by Nevis own Reggie Douglas in fifth. Unbelievably the heat was still increasing as the afternoon wore on and the runners were suffering in the very high temperatures, in the womens Olympic event Shannon Fitzgerald took a commanding lead over the others and take her well deserved first place finish in a time of 2:50:51, followed by Susan Stanley and then Julie Winters both from the USA.
As the last of the Olympic athletes came across the finish line they were greeted with ever more applause and congatulations from the attendant crowd, after their hard work the sense of relief was palpable and smiling faces were everywhere.
We at the Nevis Cycle & triathlon club want to thank all our sponsors and the volunteers and we look forward to next year.

COMMENTS
'I was pretty proud of my first triathlon performance. I just wanted to finish and I feel that I did that and in a good time for me. Thank you for doing such a great job organizing the event. Thanks again'. Danielle Moreno, Student, Medical University of the Americas(MUA) Nevis.
'Thanks again for the sterling effort in organising the 2005 tri in Nevis.
Ruth and I had a wonderful weekend and we both enjoyed the olympic tri.
2006 is a definite for us and I will try to bring a larger group'.Edward Ince, Barbados.
'The Triathlon was great -- next year I will surely do the full distance (at least the biking)'. Wayne Lilley, USA
'What a great race it was and I'd like to thank you very much for your generosity in lending me a bike, water bottle, etc as well as your hard work organizing such a great race'. Dianne Hart, Oxygen Magazine.
'Thanks for organising and staging such a fun and challenging event. For me, in spite of my relatively slow finish time, I was pleased with my performance,it being my first proper triathlon race' Derek Luk Pat, Trinidad.
'I had a great time at the race and in Nevis in general. I met so many great people (and goats), and I am definitely coming back next year.'Susan Stanley, USA.
'Thanks very much to you and your team for once again hosting a great triathlon race last weekend. It was a pleasure to participate' Wendy Yaphe, St Kitts.
'The triathlon was a huge success and I was glad to have been a part of it. Thanks for everything! Ben Turner, Student MUA. Nevis