Sixth?in the swim segment, fast rising triathlete Jason Wilson made a surge in the bike race and pulled away in the 5K final stretch to capture the 2013 Bridgetown ITU Sprint Triathlon on a wet Spring Garden yesterday morning.
Cheered every step of the way by a partisan home crowd, Wilson defied the steady rain and a strong challenge from Americans Michael Poole and Luke Fargas, and Gaspar Riveros of Chile, to boost his bank balance by US$1 000 and his points ratings in the Pan American Cup event.
Watched by his Canadian father Derek Wilson and former Olympic swimmer Nicky Neckles, the 22-year-old from the Mount, St George, went past Poole, Riveros and Fargas over the last lap, reaching the finish line at 10:23 a.m.
“It’s great to win at home. You can’t ask for anything more,” said the former student of The St Michael School, who was 12th in this event last year.
Wilson shared top billing with 19-year-old North American junior champion Amelie Kretz of Canada. Kretz, who hails from Quebec, led a 1-2 sweep of the women’s competition for Canada with Dominika Jamnicky second.
However, the main event was the men’s competition, with Wilson the only local entrant in the entire competition which attracted 19 men and 11 women.
He clocked 58 minutes, 21 seconds and was 14 seconds clear of Poole, with Riveros third.
There was a dispute over the second and third spots after Riveros filed a protest claiming he may have been bumped by the American in the early stages of the run. Judges deliberated for an hour-and-a-half before deciding to leave the original places intact.
Wilson who is preparing for a World Cup event in Madrid in June and the World Championships set for London in September, acknowledged that yesterday’s 750 metre-swim, 10K bike ride and 5K road run, was a good test.
“I got beat up early in the swim and I was the first guy to fall in the hills,” he said. “After that, it was a challenge to see who would stay up and not go down.
“Last year, I finished 12th in the race, so to finish first is amazing, the feeling is great.
“It was a hard race. It wasn’t ideal. I would have liked to come off the bike with the leaders and not have to run that hard to catch them in the first lap.”
Fargas, a 19-year-old high school student from Colorado, came out of the water at Brandons beach first and led for three-and-a-half laps of the bike ride but was slowed down by a spill. He wilted in the road run and could not withstand the charge of the lion-hearted Wilson.
Kretz, who was second after the swim, was the class of the women’s field, using her superior foot speed to record a comfortable victory.
“I had a good swim and in the bike phase three of us were together. I knew that I was going to be able to break away in the run, because I am the fastest runner here,” said Kretz, a training partner of Wilson, who was competing in the Caribbean for the first time.
Kretz was timed at one hour, two mins, 39 seconds while Jamnicky, who was born in South Australia but now resides in Canada, was second in 1:03.23. American Erin Jones, 21, of Colorado Springs, was third in 1:03.33.
