Aaron Royle of Australia and Holly Lawrence of Great Britain lead the elite men’s and women's categories after the individual time trial stages of the of the Island House Invitational Triathlon, a $500,000 three-day triathlon in the Bahamas.
Day One consisted of separate time trials in a 750-meter swim at Clifton beach in Nassau, a 20-kilometer closed circuit bike leg and a 5 kilometer run on the Western Road, which added up to a sprint distance triathlon and earned a total time for the day.
Women
Carolina Routier of Spain led the women’s swim in a time of 10:07, which gave her a 10 seconds lead on Lauren Brandon of the U.S. and 14 seconds on three-time XTERRA World Champion and 2016 ITU World Triathlon Series World Champion Flora Duffy of Bermuda.
On the bike segment, Heather Wurtele of Canada recorded the women’s fastest split - 28:30 - but Holly Lawrence of Great Britain was just 1 second slower and her overall time gave her the lead by 31 seconds on Lauren Brandon and 51 seconds on Duffy, whose 29:25 bike split was the women’s 6th fastest. Lisa Norden of Sweden, the 2012 Olympic silver medalist, stood 4th and 56 seconds back, while Helle Frederiksen of Denmark was 5th and 1 minute arrears.
The run shook up the standings considerably as Olympic champion and defending Island House winner Gwen Jorgensen of the U.S. advanced from 10th to 3rd with a women’s–best 16:59 run. Lawrence maintained her lead with a women’s 5th-best 18:02 run that brought her to the Day 1 finish in 56:54.7 with a 33.4 margin on Duffy (2nd-best 17:44 run) and 47 seconds on Jorgensen.
“The most challenging part of the time trial format was not knowing where I was relative to the other girls,” Lawrence told Island House media. “I thought I might be going too hard and was going to blow myself up!”
Lawrence leads the women's field in search of the $60,000 top prize.
Men
The men’s contest offered even more shuffling of the lead. Aaron Royle of Australia led the swim in 9 minutes 36 seconds, which gave him a 13 seconds lead on reigning WTS World Champion Mario Mola of Spain and 17 seconds on Eric Lagerstrom of the U.S.
Lionel Sanders of Canada made up considerable ground lost by a 12:10 swim with a men’s-fastest 25:22 bike split that advanced him from 19th to 8th. Terenzo Bozzone took the lead with a 10:08 swim and 25:52 bike split, which gave him a 13 seconds margin on Cam Dye of the U.S. (10:01 swim and 26:11 bike) and 35 seconds on Royle (9:37 swim and 26:58 bike split), with feared runners Mola and Richard Murray of South Africa lurking 11th and 13th, 1:45 off the lead pace.
The run leg shook things up as Murray posted a 15:26 split, the fastest run of the day, to advance to 3rd overall, Mola ran a 2nd-best 15:34 to move up to 4th, and Joe Maloy of the U.S. ran a 3rd-best 15:40 split to advance to 5th.
Royle defended his lead with a tied for 8th-best 16:26 split that gave him a 52:58.9 total and a 7.1 seconds lead on Bozzone (17:08 run), 14 seconds on Murray, 18 seconds on Mola and 21 seconds on Maloy.
“Today went well across the board. A good swim set up the day and I was able to consolidate on that on the bike and run,” said Royle, who finished 9th at the Rio Olympics and 16th at the WTS Grand Final in Cozumel. “It was great to challenge myself against the Überbikers and see where I stand in comparison to them.”
Less than 1 minute separates the top 10 men, who will compete in the Enduro stage consisting of a mass start 750 meter swim, a 5km run, a 40km bike leg, a 750 meter swim and a 5km run. The three day event finishes with a sprint distance race for the top 10 male and female athletes after days 1 and 2 – all seeking the best shares of a total $500,000 prize purse.
Island House Triathlon
Nassau, Bahamas
October 28-30, 2016
Day One – Individual Time Trials
Swim TT 750m / Bike TT 20km / Run TT 5km
Day One Results
Men
1. Aaron Royle (AUS) S 9:37 B 26:58 R 16:26 TOTAL 52:58.9
2. Terenzo Bozzone (NZL) S 10:08 B 25:52 R 17:08 TOTAL 53:06.0
3. Richard Murray (RSA) S 10:10 B 27:38 R 15:26 TOTAL 53:12.4
4. Mario Mola (ESP) S 9:49 B 27:55 R 15:34 TOTAL 53:16.7
5. Joe Maloy (USA) S 10:09 B 27:28 R 15:44 TOTAL 53:19.7
6. Cam Dye (USA) S 10:01 B 26:11 R 17:19 TOTAL 53:29.9
7. Lionel Sanders (CAN) S 12:10 B 25:22 R 16:10 TOTAL 53:40.7
8. Eric Lagerstrom (USA) S 9:53 B 27:09 R 16:41 TOTAL 53:41.1
9. Brent McMahon (CAN) S 10:20 B 27:11 R 16:13 TOTAL 53:42.8
10. Sebastian Kienle (GER) S 10:52 B 26:15 R 16:39 TOTAL 53:45.2
11. Tim Reed (AUS) S 10:41 B 26:57 R 16:26 TOTAL 56:03.4
12. Leon Griffin (AUS) S 10:35 B 27:10 R 16:23 TOTAL 54:06.5
13. Jorik Can Egdom (NED) S 10:48 B 27:00 R 16:24 TOTAL 54:10.3
14. Tim Don (GBR) S 10:33 B 27:15 R 16:30 TOTAL 54:17.3
15. Tim O’Donnell (USA) S 10:34 B 26:40 R 17:05 TOTAL 54:17.5
16. Trevor Wurtele (CAN) S 11:39 B 26:49 R 16:57 TOTAL 55:24.3
17. Ben Hoffman (USA) S 10:40 B 29:37 R 17:35 TOTAL 57:49.6
18. Barrett Brandon (USA) S 10:13 B 29:10 R 18:42 TOTAL 58:03
19. Andreas Dreitz (GER) S 10:58 B 42:13 R 18:43 TOTAL 1:11:53
Women
1. Holly Lawrence (GBR) S 10:23 B 28:31 R 18:02 TOTAL 56:54.7
2. Flora Duffy (BER) S 10:21 B 29:25 R 17:44 TOTAL 57:28.1
3. Gwen Jorgensen (USA) S 10:25 B 30:28 R 16:59 TOTAL 57:41.7
4. Helle Frederiksen (DEN) S 10:38 B 29:16 R 18:08 TOTAL 58:00.9
5. Lauren Goss (USA) S 10:49 B 29:45 R 17:51 TOTAL 58:24.1
6. Ellie Salthouse (AUS) S 10:58 B 29:31 R `18:15 TOTAL 58:42.1
7. Lisa Norden (SWE) S 10:49 B 29:02 R 18:53 TOTAL 58:42.7
8. Rachel Klamer (NED) S 10:24 B 30:31 R 18:03 TOTAL 58:57.3
9. Sarah True (USA) S 10:23 B 30:43 R 17:56 TOTAL 59:00.6
10. Alicia Kaye (USA) S 10:45 B 29:27 R 18:51 TOTAL 59:01.5
11. Katie Zaferes (USA) S 10:34 B 30:27 R 18:27 TOTAL 59:27.0
12. Emma Moffatt (AUS) S 10:31 B 30:47 R 18:15 TOTAL 59:32.1
13. Heather Wurtele (CAN) S 11:48 B 28:30 R 19:19 TOTAL 59:35.7
14. Lauren Brandon (USA) S 10:17 B 29:08 R 20:24 TOTAL 59:47.9
15. Magali Tisseyre (CAN) S 11:39 B 29:56 R 18:36 TOTAL 1:00:09.7
15. Mirinda Carfrae (AUS) S 12:05 B 30:06 R 18:30 TOTAL 1:00:39.0
17. Leanda Cave (GBR) S 11:05 B 30:10 R 19:43 TOTAL 1:00:56.9
17. Carolina Routier (ESP) S 10:07 B 32:46 R 18::47 TOTAL 1:01:38.2
