Triathlon Association president happy with interest after Nationals

JAMAICA TRIATHLON Association President Carl Sharpe was delighted with the size of the field at the Sprint Triathlon National Championships earlier this month.

“The turnout was magnificent. We had over 70 competitors and this was our largest ever contingent for any of our National Championships,” Sharpe reported happily.

Those numbers have bolstered the faith the newly elected president has in the sport.

“I am very optimistic, sir, and I love the sport very much and I’m surrounded by a team that is very much in love with the sport as well, so we will do our best,” said the man who ascended to the presidency in October.

The president was speaking after Elisabeth Mondon and Phillip McCatty proved the big winners from that large field on December 5.

Invigorated by a bumper entry for the Port Royal event, Mondon started fast and stretched well away from the other women in the field, while McCatty outrode and outran his main rivals to earn his triumph over the 600-metre swim/20km cycle/5-kilometre journey.

Mondon strung together a 16-minute 46-second swim, a bicycle stint lasting 37 minutes and 17 seconds and ended with a solid 5-kilometre run in 22 minutes 58 seconds to clock 1 hour 18 minutes and 18 seconds. Not only was she almost 5 minutes clear of runner-up Jozanne Harris, she was also the fourth athlete overall to finish.

Record Nationals entry

At first, Mondon had to come to terms with a record Nationals entry of more than 70 competitors across the various entry categories. “Funny enough, you know this year’s Nationals had the biggest amount of entries, I think about 65 or 75, so it was almost intimidating to come in and see so many people and seeing everybody as a potential conqueror,” said the dual citizen who described herself as a French Jamaican.

Once the race began, she had a smooth passage. “I benefited from a lot of good circumstances. I had a swimmer, swimming with me so I could draft with him and then I had a cyclist with me midway through the cycle component, cycling with me so I could draft with him as well. So all of those made it a very nice event for me,” she recalled.

After a November win at the Escape Triathlon, Mondon came to the Nationals a confident woman. “It was a really good trial test for me to see where I was and what my level was, and it did give me some confidence for the Nationals, for sure, yes,” she said on December 6.

The 2018 National Sprint Triathlon champion Lance Rochester was the fastest swimmer in the men’s event at 14 minutes 56 seconds but McCatty zoomed a 34:24 ride and an 18:45 5000-metre run to accumulate a finish time of 1 hour 10 minutes and 33 seconds. Allan Dempsey was over 6 minutes back in second place.