Gomez, Jorgensen rule on day 1
ITU World Champions Javier Gomez and Gwen Jorgensen took a narrow lead after the opening sprint triathlon prologue at the 2015 Island House Invitational Triathlon, with 2 stages in the next 2 days still to take place. Athletes navigated a 300m swim, 7km bike and 2km run in a time trial format on Highbourne Cay, Exuma, in the Bahamas. Numbers were drawn and the highest number had to go first, with each subsequent athlete leaving in one minute intervals in this unique event. In the men's race the first to go with bib #10 was Luke McKenzie, and in the women's event Leanda Cave drew the lucky (or unlucky) number 10.
The Men
McKenzie ended up swimming a time of 4:18 for the 300 meter swim, but in this case that was not good enough for the swim honors and the check that went with it. Javier Gomez had the fastest swim split with a time of 3:51, followed by Cameron Dye in 4:00 and Richard Murray in 4:06.
Once on the bike Dye followed up his fast swim time with a race best 10:30 bike effort over the 7km course, and that put him in a good position. Gomez, who had started well ahead of him, was virtually tied with him. Tim Don had the second best split of 10:36 and Murray recorded a 10:37 to stay in the thick of the action. The field of 10 men, however, was only 31 seconds apart from best to slowest bike split.
The closing 2km run saw only 2 men go sub 7 minutes, and those were Gomez with a 6:46 and Murray with a 6:59. That allowed the fast Spaniard to take the lead with a 21:34 overall time. Murray was rewarded with second position 25 seconds adrift, and Tim Don with a 3rd best 7:04 run managed to capture third place after the first day in a time of 22:06.
The women
Lauren Brandon was the 6th person to leap into the water and she made quick work of the 300 meter swim. Her 4:05 effort was best among the women and third fastest overall. Lisa Norden and Flora Duffy were next with 4:11 and 4:12 swim splits, but Gwen Jorgensen was only a second slower than Duffy.
Lisa Norden then took charge of the 7km bike segment and recorded the quickest time in 11:30. Flora Duffy and Alicia Kaye both rode 11:36, and Jorgensen clocked in with a 11:50 time. The 10 women in the race were spread out over 49 seconds in terms of their bike splits.
The race best 7:29 run split by Jorgensen made the difference at the end. Norden's 7:57 time meant that she was in 2nd place, 6 seconds behind the World Champion Jorgensen. Flora Duffy ran 7:51 and her steady effort in every discipline gave her the 3rd spot after day one.
Island House Invitational Triathlon
Day 1 300m swim / 7km bike / 2km run
The men (after day 1)
1. Javier Gomez (ESP) 21:35
2. Richard Murray (RSA) + :25
3. Tim Don (GBR) + :32
4. Cam Dye (USA) + :35
5. Leon Griffin (AUS) + :57
6. Ben Hoffman (USA) + :1:03
7. Trevor Wurtele (CAN) + 1:09
8. Barrett Brandon (USA) +1:12
9. Luke McKenzie (AUS) +1:26
10. Tim O’Donnell (USA) + 1:27
The women (after day 1)
1. Gwen Jorgensen (USA) 23:52
2. Lisa Norden (SWE) + :06
3. Flora Duffy (BER) + :09
4. Alicia Kaye (USA) + :27
5. Rachel Klamer (NED) + :55
6. Lauren Brandon (USA) + 1:03
7. Mirinda Carfrae (AUS) + 1:07
8. Heather Wurtele (CAN) + 1:16
9. Rachel Joyce (GBR) + 1:37
10. Leanda Cave (GBR) +1:42
Both images by Nils Nilsen of N2PHOTO+VIDEOservices
