Completing an individual triathlon must be one of the most satisfying ways of getting sporting fulfilment.
Over 200 participated in the Turtle Triathlon on Sunday and many of them can boast that they did just that. Whether it was the full Olympic course of 1500 metre swim, 20 kilometre bike and 10k run or the Sprint distance which is half that, they all deserve a name check.
Englishman Colin Wright is one of them. ‘I did my first triathlon last year but without any training,’ he said. ‘Last year I did it in 1 hour 37 minutes, this year I did 1:26. This year I did a little bit more on my bike.
‘I love the challenge of triathlons. I’ve always like biking and running but hate swimming, I’m useless at it, which is why I don’t come near the top. I’m ten minutes behind everyone else!
Wright, 40, has just returned to competition after a few years off with injuries. He enjoys the camaraderie triathlons engender
‘It’s great to compete with the pros and seasoned triathletes because they inspire you and give you advice.’
Paul Drake is a keen runner and member of the Hash House Harriers, the Monday night running club that it celebrating its 30th anniversary in Cayman. This was his second triathlon, done in a slightly slower time than last year because of the conditions.
‘I was about three minutes slower so I’m quite happy with it because of the wind,’ Drake said. ‘I only got into Hash this year which definitely helped because I was a lot stronger on the run. I’ve just got to improve my swimming now.’
Englishman Drake has been on the island for 15 years. He is a director of Genesis Trust and admits he doesn’t really have a sporting background.
‘I used to play rugby until I got injured then I started playing squash.’
TV presenter James Bebarfald and wife Danielle completed the tri. It was her first, he’s a seasoned tri-er. ‘It was definitely very tough but I had a great time doing it,’ she said.
‘The wind didn’t make things easier, but hey, at least it didn’t rain. I did it in roughly one and three-quarter hours and James was fantastic. He was my coach. He beat me by about 10 minutes but I hope to overtake him next year.’
Hope that doesn’t cause matrimonial problems!
James said: ‘It was good fun to have somebody to run and train with and give support.’
Are they the new celebrity sporting couple? ‘Oh, I don’t know about that!’ James laughed.
Janet Sairsingh did the bike leg with her AON team-mates Liz Miller who swam and Karen Attenborough. ‘It was great on the bike until I reached the cricket pitch side,’ she said. ‘The wind was so strong! Towards the end I was thinking: ‘Who signed me up to this!’ But it was still great.’
There were many local sports people of all ages and abilities competing, including Amber Myrie, Tony Doyle, TJ Oliver – who made up a team. Other teams included Jo Richards, Brad Lytz and Andy Bonner and also Dawn Kirton with Lara Butler and Majken Mikkelsen who were the fastest women’s team.
Winning men’s team was predictably Matthew Courtis, Jerome Ameline and Russell Coleman. Renowned videographer Mike Nelson showed he is a natural athlete too and also in the mix were the usual suspects Gill Comins, Tony Watts, Caroline Courtis, Paul Drury, Perry Rumbough, Beth Schreader, Lauretta Bennett, Rodger Yeomans, Janet Sairsingh, Seiji Groome, Andrew Smilley, Julian La Valette, Katrina Rowe, Mia Karapita, Jeremy Superfine, Summer Flowers… The list is endless.
The whole thing was principally organised by race director Polly Cox who is stepping down, Celine Macken and Larry Walters who all deserve massive praise for their time and effort.
Main sponsors were Butterfield Bank and all the volunteers, helpers and police should get a mention for helping it go so smoothly.
Natalie George completed the Sprint for the first time and fulfilled a New Year’s resolution. ‘I wasn’t big and unfit, it was just that I wanted to do a triathlon and heard that they are really addictive. I might have to disagree with that.
‘But I will be back next year to try to improve my time. I think I did it in 1:48. I ran the Cayman Half Marathon last year and thought this might be less painful – it wasn’t!’
For Kathie Lyons this was her first triathlon in the Cayman Islands. She’s done the event in her home city of Boston too. She got into triathlons through her sister who wanted to do one and they started training together. Her sister dropped off but Lyons found a training partner in Donna Metaxas who did the Turtle Tri too. Both women look far from athletic but they deserve props for reaching the fitness level to complete a triathlon and must be an inspiration to other middle-aged big women.
‘We started the training to lose weight but we didn’t get that far with the weight loss but we can swim and bike and run. I think we’re going to stick with this,’ Lyons said.
Metaxas comes from a family of sporting people. ‘We just fancied coming to a nice island like this to do a triathlon. It’s lovely here,’ Metaxas said.
‘We trained for this just about every day of the week, about 45 minutes for three months intensively although we train all year round.
‘We chose this one because there’s an Olympic and a Sprint so it doesn’t look as if we came in dead last!’
Have they done the Boston Marathon? ‘No, but we watch it a lot. It passes through where we live,’ said Lyons.
She added: ‘We’ll carry on training to keep the fitness level and hopefully we’ll be able to do it next year – minus the weight.’
Cayman Prep PE teacher Brendan Touhey was in a team with pupil Geoffrey Butler (swim) and staff member Sandy Hew (run).
‘We probably had about a dozen of our students here doing it,’ he said. ‘So they were cheering for each other, which is nice. And we had Elliott Vernon who is only 12 doing it by himself in an hour and 30 minutes.
‘We have a lot of swimmers and squash players at the school and we’d like to see a few doing triathlons.
‘They like to swim but don’t really like running. It helps to boost the team numbers though because when the adults put teams together they look to the kids for swimming. So when they learn to ride and run we’re all going to be in a bit of trouble.’
Little Elliott said: ‘It was Mr Touhey who encouraged me to come here and do it by myself today. I did the Sprint. I don’t think I could do the Olympic.’ He’s one to watch out for in the future.
Jason Schmidt is a swimming coach at the Lion Aquatic Centre. He coaches most of the youngsters who were in the team event.
‘I did a fair bit of training,’ Schmidt said. ‘It was my first race since July and it was good to get a completed race under my belt.
‘I did an Ironman in April of last year but didn’t complete the July one.
‘It was good to see all the swimmers and it would be great to see them on bikes and running. Their good swims must be down to fantastic coaching!’
Schmidt is not surprised that not many kids do the full triathlon.
‘It’s good transition for cardio from the bike to the run for first time triathletes, but a lot of kids who swim don’t like to be on land, they prefer the water.’
For police officer Gabe Rabess, the strong wind was not really an arresting problem.
‘It was windy on the course, especially the bike. But where as some may suffer, others will gain. I don’t mind windy conditions because I tend to train on my own anyway.
‘My background is running so in the last few weeks I concentrated on swimming. I had been out on the bike a few times but this was really just a taster. Next year you will see a bit more of me.
‘I used to do triathlons in England about seven years ago and this was my first time here.’
Rabess was impressed with his partner Marlene West who was one of the fastest women.
‘Marlene’s doing very well. She’s worked hard for it, it’s not easy on your work or your social life because you’ve got your three disciplines so you really have to knuckle down.’
Chuck Cobo wasn’t totally happy with his performance even though he did a personal best. ‘I didn’t have my day but it was still a great time. This was my second triathlon. I improved my time by two minutes and it was so much fun.
‘The organisation of this event was incredible. I just thank all the organisers on behalf of all the participants. All the support, the aid staff, it was incredible. The sponsors too, this couldn’t have happened without them. Everything was perfect.’
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