Fatima and St Joseph dominate triathlon championships

FATIMA College and St Joseph’s Convent dominated the TT Triathlon Federation (TTTF) 2018 National Secondary Schools Triathlon Championships held at the National Aquatic Centre, Couva, yesterday. The meet was held in tandem with the Primary School Championships, which took place earlier in the day.

In the Secondary Schools Division, Fatima won the 13 and Under Overall Boys with James Castagne-Hay finishing first in the five-man field. He outclassed his competitors with a 200m swim time of 3:35, a 2km bike time of 4:25 and a 500m run of 1:52 to end with an overall time of 9:51. The Girls, however, showed their mettle by copping the next four best times. Makaira Wallace of St Joseph’s Convent came first with a total time of 10:27 (3:41 in the pool, 4:41 on the bike and 2:06 on the track), with Isis Gaskin of Bishop’s East second in 10:41 and Mekelle Cedeno of St. Joseph’s Convent third in 10:55. Rounding out the Boys were Evan Gillard-Bruce of St. Mary’s College in 12:11 and Kyle Hospedales of Fyzabad Secondary in 12:31.

In the 16 and Over Division (400m swim / 3.6km ride / 1.2km run), Fatima’s Troy Llanos won in 19:30, with St Mary’s Kareem Mason (20:00) and Trinity East’s Liam Trepte (20:12) behind. Zahra Gaskin of Bishop’s East won the Girls in 22:14, followed by St Joseph’s Convent duo, Kirsten St Omer (24:41) and Ashleigh Scott (25:02). In the 14-15 Division (300m swim / 3km ride / 1km run), Fatima’s Mathew Wortman copped first in 15:00, with North Gate’s Rowan King (15:49) and Fatima’s Josh Fuller (16:05) tailing. For the Girls, St Joseph’s Convent’s Imani Bishop (17:40) won, tailed by Alicia King of Parvati Hindu Girls in 18:36 and the home-schooled Chiara Mohammed in 19:06. In the Overall Relay (300m swim / 3km ride / 1km run), Trinity College East won in 12:36, followed by two Fatima teams in 13:01 and 13:33.

The Primary School Championships proved to be just as exciting with the dominant Bishop Anstey’s Aiden Nixon claiming the Boys 7 and Under Overall Division (25m swim / 300m ride / 50m run) in 4:11, followed by Declan DeFreitas (4:22) of Dunross and Adam Laing (4:24) of St. Andrew’s Primary School. For the Girls, Maria Regina Grade School cleaned up the podium with a top three finish: Maxx Sylvester (5:05), Mila Young (5:07) and Zara Wellington (5:25). In the Youth 8-9 Division (50m swim / 600m ride / 100m run), Dunross’ Lucas Shaw (6:05) won for the Boys, with schoolmate Jon Michael Abraham second in 6:09 and Newton Boys’ Josiah Alexander third in 6:24. Maleah Butler of Dunross won the Girls in 6:29, with Gianna Pichery of Holy Name Preparatory second in 6:37.

The Youth 10-11 Division Boys (100m swim / 1.2km ride / 200m run) was taken by Holistic Primary School’s Harland Samuel (7:57), with Steffi Scott of St. Monica’s Prep. winning the Girls in 9:09. The Youth 12-13 Division (150m swim / 1.8km ride / 400m run) top plaudits went to Dante Pichery (10:50) of Holy Name Prep. and Jenae Price (11:18) of Bishop Anstey’s. Proceedings ended with the Relays, won by Bishop Anstey’s Boys in 7:33, followed by St Andrews Primary (7:34) and Dunross (7:52).