Duffy, Kanute Lead After Day One at Island House

Olympians Ben Kanute (USA) and Flora Duffy (BER) lead after day one at the Island House Invitational Triathlon. 

Bermuda’s Flora Duffy and USA’s Ben Kanute hold slim leads after the first day of racing at the Island House Invitational Triathlon. Day one of racing tested the athletes with a short, sharp Prologue teaser followed by the seven-leg Enduro stage.

The morning prologue event comprised a 7km bike, 2km run and 200m swim with athletes departing on the bike at one-minute intervals.

In the women’s race, Duffy asserted herself on the initial bike leg recording the fastest bike split in the women’s prologue over the technical 7km lap. Together with solid run and swim splits in the stage, it was enough to give her the pole position heading into the second stage.

The afternoon’s Enduro event presented not only a physical challenge but also a mental challenge for the athletes as the traditional sprint distance triathlon of 750m swim, 20km bike and 5km run was divided it in seven separate legs. The athletes started with a 2km run, 375m swim,10km bike, which they repeated twice before finishing with a 1km run. Using the Prologue results to stagger the athletes in Formula One grid-style start, Duffy took pole position in the women’s race but was unable to drop USA’s Katie Zaferes. The two women dueled throughout the race until Zaferes pulled away from Duffy during the second bike leg. She held on during the final run to cross the finish line first. While the effort was not enough to put Zaferes in first overall on the leaderboard, she will start just 14 seconds behind Duffy in tomorrow’s deciding sprint distance race. Great Britain’s Holly Lawrence put in a strong showing in the Enduro event to move into 3^rd place overall, but will start tomorrow’s race 1:48 down on Duffy and 1:34 on Zaferes.

For the men, Kanute was locked in a tight battle with New Zealand’s Terenzo Bozzone all day long. Bozzone had the fastest bike split in the initial 7km \ leg but the American earned the fastest time in the Prologue race by virtue of a solid showing across all three disciplines. South Africa’s Henri Schoeman was also consistent in all three disciplines to place third.

Having watched the women compete during the Enduro event, there was plenty of nervous energy as the men lined up in grid style to start the Enduro race. The pack of athletes remained tight during the first round of run, swim, bike disciplines but Bozzone was revealing himself as the standout cyclist in the men’s field. He led the way into the final 1km run with Kanute close on his heels. It required a massive surge in the final 200 meters of the race by Kanute to edge by Bozzone and take the win for the Enduro stage and retain the overall lead.

The stage is set for a thrilling final day as Kanute will lead out the sprint distance race, just 11 seconds ahead of Bozzone. Schoeman held strong to retain 3^rd place and remain in contention, 47 seconds adrift of Kanute’s leading time.

Day 1 Format

AM – Super sprint Individual Time Trial
Bike – 7km
Run – 2km
Swim – 200m

PM – Sprint Enduro
2km run
375m swim
10km bike
2km run
375m swim
10km bike
1km run

Day 1 Standings – Women
1. Flora Duffy
2. Katie Zaferes
3. Holly Lawrence
4. Kristen Kasper
5. Ashleigh Gentle
6. Rachel Klamer
7. Ellie Salthouse
8. Andrea Hewitt
9. Sarah True
10. Alicia Kaye
11. Emma Pallant
12. Rachel Joyce
13. Leanda Cave
14. Sarah Crowley
15. Lauren Goss

Day 1 Standings – Men
1. Ben Kanute
2. Terenzo Bozzone
3. Henri Schoeman
4. Aaron Royle
5. Cam Dye
6. Ryan Bailie
7. Sam Appleton
8. Sebastian Kienle
9. Richard Murray
10. Rudy Von Berg
11. Mario Mola
12. Eric Lagerstron
13. Josh Amberger
14. Ben Hoffman