Silver medallist Costelloe thrilled

National triathlete Jason Costelloe crushed his personal best time to earn silver in the Olympic distance at the Barbados National Triathlon event in Spring Village, Barbados, on Sunday.

Costelloe was second in two hours, three minutes and 14 seconds (2:03:14) in the event which required athletes to swim 1.5 kilometres, ride 40K and run 10K. Jamaican Phillip McCatty won in 1:58:53 and Barbadian Oein Josiah was third in 2:05:14.

Costelloe, who improved on his previous best by seven minutes, was surprised by his performance saying, “It was an amazing achievement for me. Crossing the finish line I actually could not believe the time, I thought it was a mistake. I thought it should have read two hours and 13 minutes but instead it read two hours and three minutes, so it came as a big shock to me.”

Costelloe added, “I did a lot of preparation leading up to the event. I was expecting a good time, but the time I did achieve blowed my mind. I still find it hard to come to terms with it so I am very pleased and happy with the performance.”

Costelloe completed the swim in 22:14, the ride in 57:18 and the run in 42:08. Despite his excellent showing Costelloe still believes he must improve.

“You live and learn from every race. After this race I still see a lot of room for improvement in my run and my transition area. There is definitely still need for improvement and hopefully by next year I can drop my time under two hours, that is my goal.”

There were also some top performances by TT in the sprint triathlon (.75K, 20K bike, 5K run). In the women’s category, Rachel Grosberg from TT won gold in 1:11:22 and her fellow TT athlete Kirsten St Omer was second in 1:12:48. Other top TT athletes in the category were Alana Lee Woo in 1:19:56 (fourth) and Aliya Drakes in 1:23:03 (seventh).

In the men’s category, Jonathan Thompson of TT was second in 1:04:28 and James Amow was sixth in 1:09:45.

TT also had teams in the sprint relay triathlon with local teams finishing eighth, 13th, 17th and 18th among the 18 teams in the event.