Sixteen individuals (10 men, 6 women) and three relays took on the 750-meter swim, 13-mile bike and 5K run.
The rough sea separated the swimmers right from the start. Dolphin swimmer Kaeden Gleason powered through the murky water and came out in 9:39. Former St. Croix resident Dedrick Luikens was just over three minutes behind and was the second to emerge. Esther Ellis led the field of women in 14:51.
The out-and-back bike course headed west to Union and Mt. Washington along the South Shore Road. Sue Brown, Gleason’s cyclist, gave it her all and held off the field of individual triathletes. Nervous to be leading the race, Good Hope Country Day School runner Kirra Lambert brought the relay team to the finish line in a total time of 1:19:25. Luikens relinquished his first-place spot to Stephen Swanton, who posted the fastest bike split of the race. Wayne Nichols charged ahead of Luikens on the bike but couldn’t hold him off on the challenging run. The three men finished on the podium in that order.
Ellis, who has taken off a few months of training, proved that she can remain tough even in her down time. She nailed the bike in 50:05 and held her lead on the run ahead of strong runners Alex Gutting and Megan Lambert. They finished in that order.
The aquathlon brought out veteran athletes, newbies and everything in between. The swim/run event covered the same distances as the sprint, minus the bike leg. Caylee Watson led the choppy swim in 11:08, followed by Good Hope Country Day School student Mason Lambert in 11:22. Bridget Klein, the Virgin Islands’ top female runner, overtook Watson on the hilly run and finished in 36:15. Lambert was the first-place male and the second finisher overall.
The event was sponsored by LNL Publishing, which provided the Halloween medals, themed treats and goody bags, and by CC1, which provided the Dasani water and Powerade
For more information on the Beauty & The Beast Triathlon on Nov. 28, contact 513-2707 or sign up at: https://stxtriathlon.com/
Halloween Swim, Bike, Run For Your Life Triathlon & Aquathlon
