Posted: March 24, 2005

Triathlon: Australia Earns Gold At The Port Royal Bay Islands Triathlon

New Course Record by Greg Bennett

Roatan, Bay Islands – Australian Triathlete Greg Bennett, sets a new record for the very difficult course of the Port Royal Bay Islands Triathlon, in 1:57:46. The first time the course is completed under two hours. Bennett was 4th in Athens’ Olympic games, and has been ranked in first place for 2003 and 2002. Susan Williams of USA, defending champion of the race, and bronze medallist in Athens was the female champion of the day with a time of 2:13:07.

Upcoming Costa Rican triathlete, Leonardo Chacon, starts his first race of the year with a very impressive second place of 2:00:42. Leonardo is Central America’s champion and has a very promising future in the ITU rankings. Laura Reback Bennett was the second place female with another outstanding time of 2:18:39.

Third place finishers Matthew Reed of USA, and Genevieve Pellerin of Canada completed the course in 2:02:33 and 2:20:11 respectively. The pool of professional athletes though small was of great quality and the 16 athletes seemed very satisfied with the course and their performance.

“ This is the hardest course I’ve done,” said Australian Greg Bennett, who came to Honduras when he heard of the hills that are part of the course. Bennett and his wife Laura Reback Bennett live in Florida, and both felt that it would be a great benefit to race in a difficult course as their first race of the year.

“ I love coming back to Roatan,” said Susan Williams, and added she likes the hills on this course. The day was picture perfect with the added benefit of a slight cold front which kept temperatures and humidity under control. The age group competition also presented some future professional hopefuls with best overall age group time of 2:38 28 by Jeremey Crane of Honduras; followed by 2:40:08 by Victor Rodriguez also of Honduras and Jose Samayoa with 2:40:54 from Honduras. “It is impressive to see these Honduran athletes completing this difficult course with substandard equipment in most cases, and little formal training,” said an American age grouper. “They have an incredible physical condition with much more to give in the future”, he added.

Results:

MALES: Bennett Greg AUS 1:57:46 Leonardo Chacon CR 2:00:42 Matthew Reed USA 2:02:33 Dave Messenheimer USA 2:07:26 John Dahlz USA 2:11:59 Rubio-Ponce Pablo HON 2:18:57 Henriquez Jose HON 2:47:35

FEMALES: Williams Susan USA 2:13:07 Bennett Laura USA 2:18:39 Pellerin Geneivier CAN 2:20:11 Mannova Michaela USA 2:26:05 Melliar Smith Karen USA 2:32:07.