By BVI Triathlon Federation
Antony Spencer, 2015 national champion, recovered well after swimming into a moored dinghy. Photo: Broadsword Communications
In the BVI Triathlon Federation’s National Sprint Champs, newcomer Jenny McIvor vanquished the other ladies to gain her first title as national champion, while grizzled veteran Antony Spencer placed the men’s crown on his head for the second time, and set a new record, after taking 39 seconds seconds off 2011 Chris Ghiorse’s time.
The National Sprint Champs are held at Sandy Ground boatyard, Soper’s Hole and comprise a “sprint distance” 750-metre swim, 20-kilometre bike ride and a five-kilometre run.
The men’s division saw three national champions battling for glory again. This was reflected in the finish times which were considerably faster than 2014 with Antony, second placer Richard Morgan, and third placer Russell Crumpler, all posting better times than last year’s winning time. Russell was four minutes faster than his winning time in 2013 and Richard one minute faster than his 2014 championship time. This may be in part be due to faster swim time generated by the Barracuda that shadowed the competitors on the opening swim leg.
Fortunately the silver assassin turned out to be no more trouble than a delinquent halibut and swam off into the murky waters beyond, possibly deterred by the sight of Dan Mitchell in his onesie, enough to put even the most hardy water born predator off their brunch – Iain Walker
Richard Morgan storms the bike leg. Photo: Broadsword Communications
Mirroring previous events, Spencer exited the water well ahead of Morgan, only to lose the advantage to Morgan, the stronger rider, on the bike leg. Into the run, Spencer started just ahead of Morgan, with Crumpler ready to pounce in third.
This was a battle royale, as Spencer and Morgan jousted for position, exchanging the lead six times, each digging deep to out gun the other. Just behind, and by no means out of contention, Crumpler was slowly winding them both in, hoping to profit from any lapse. At the one mile mark Morgan cracked and Spencer slipped away to cross the line two minutes ahead of his rival in a new course record of 1 hour 12 minutes and 57 seconds. Crumpler, just 37 seconds behind Morgan, took third.
Jenny McIvor – 2015 Ladies National Sprint Champion. Photo: Broadsword Communications
Jenny has roared into form this year, shocking the other ladies with fast improvement. Tash Ruscheinski, true to form, powered through the swim and managed to maintain her lead, putting in a ride time 30 seconds faster than Jenny. However, Jenny, much fleeter of foot, posted one of the fastest runs of the day, decimated Tash’s lead with a run six minutes faster than Tash, finishing just under three minutes ahead. Kerry Dos Santos was third.
In the team event, Trott, Buckle & Crumple (Martin Trott, Laurent Keeble-Buckle and Kat Crumpler) fielding a very swimmer and runner were assured of their victory barring catastrophe and romped home 3 minutes and 43 seconds ahead of Team Blitz (Cayley Smit, Justin Smit, Jules Potgieter) despite Justin reeling back almost 4 minutes on the bike leg.
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