By Matt Fitzgerald
November 2, 2008 -- Word got out between the first annual Escape to Bermuda Triathlon and the second. In 2007, only a few dozen athletes participated. This year more than double that number signed up for the November 2 Olympic-distance race. Many more took part in the Bermuda Shorts Triathlon and a kids’ triathlon held the previous day.
Race organizer IMG has taken a top-down approach to developing the event, inviting a strong contingent of male and female pros and producing a 60-minute video of the race for broadcast on the Versus network. The ratio of pros to age-groupers was such that it had the feel of a fantasy camp, with elites and everyday participants mingling sociably on the high-speed ferry that delivered competitors to the start line near the old Royal Navy Dockyard on the west end of the island and at several other race-related weekend activities.
Among the pros invited this year was Ironman world championship swim record holder Benjamin Sanson of France, who predictably exited the 72-degree waters first on a warm, dry and cloudless morning. Chris McCormack of Australia was in a small pack not too far behind despite having lost his goggles early in the swim.
Sanson surprised some by holding onto his lead throughout the 40km bike leg that terminated on the far eastern edge of Bermuda (funny how the island is just large enough to host a point-to-point Olympic-distance race) in the historic Parish of St. George’s. By T2, American Matt Reed, looking to end 2008 on a high note after a disappointing Olympics in August, had moved into second position, about a minute behind Sanson. McCormack was another minute back.
Reed ran a solid 33:27 10km on a very challenging two-loop course to take the win. Simon Thompson of Australia and Michael Raelert of Germany moved past McCormack with the day’s second- and third-fastest run splits to finish second and third, respectively. As he approached the finish, Reed clenched his fists and gritted his teeth in a display of deep satisfaction with his triumph over a deep tough field that also included U.S. Olympian Jarrod Shoemaker, American Brians Fleischmann and Lavelle, and others. “At this time of year my fitness is going down, not up,” said Reed. “It was satisfying to be able to win against such tough competition even though my form is not great.”
The women’s race was a tight one all the way. Britain’s Jodie Swallow and rising American star Sarah Groff marked each other throughout the swim, with Swallow finishing just two seconds off Groff’s race-best pace of 21:35. The race got even tighter through the bike leg, as American Becky Lavelle, who recently claimed the Life Time Fitness Triathlon Series title (a.k.a. the Toyota Cup), scorched the rolling, winding course to pull almost dead even with Groff and Swallow at T2.
Running specialist Swallow gained separation from her rivals over the brutal climbs and harrowing descents of the run course in quickly rising temperatures to cross the finish line first in 2:05:56. Groff took second in 2:07:15 and Lavelle was 10 seconds further back in third place.