Triathletes Lynsey and Peter claim silver and bronze in Bermuda

Team Shetland claimed its first two medals of the 2013 NatWest Island Games courtesy of triathletes Lynsey Henderson and Peter Fenwick on Sunday morning.

Lynsey won silver in the women’s event, while Peter took bronze in the men’s event on day one in Bermuda. 

Triathlon was the opening event for this year’s games, with competitors spared the worst of the heat by starting the race-opening swimming leg at 7.30am local time.

Lynsey secured her medal in a time of two hours, 18 minutes and 57 seconds. Her strongest event was the swim, where a time of 21 minutes and 15 seconds was the second fastest in the field. Strong performances on the bike (just under one hour and 10 minutes) and in the running (just under 47 minutes) ensured an overall second-placed finish. 

“It’s so overwhelming, I am just so happy,” she told this newspaper. “The run was brutal – it was a game of survival. [The] swim and bike [were] easier to handle. 

“[Gold medallist] Kerry McPhee is a pro so she was kind of expected to push it and win. She only caught me on the second lap of the bike.”

In stifling heat Peter completed the course in two hours, one minute and 31 seconds to finish third in the men’s race. He was less than 90 seconds behind Orcadian gold medallist Bobby Oag.

His success primarily came down to being the fastest in the field on the cycling leg in a time of 58 minutes, 14 seconds. He had been 17th following the swimming section of the race. A sixth-fastest time of 39 minutes 51 seconds in the run helped secure bronze.

Peter, representing Team Shetland at an island games for the first time, said afterwards that he was “delighted” with a medal after “the hardest event I’ve done due to the standard of competition and conditions.”

After a tough swim he had time to make up, and he “worked really hard on the bike and made up lots of places”.

“The run was about survival,” he continued. “Bobby Oag was a bit far ahead but I was neck and neck with the Faroese guy, until he had a burst of pace and I decided to hold for third rather than chase second and possibly do too much and not finish. The run was right on the limit in the heat.”

SQUASH

Meanwhile, it’s been a good start for Team Shetland’s squash contingent. In the first round of women’s singles matches, Joan Smith comfortably outplayed Gibraltar’s Janet Lesley May, winning in straight sets 11-3, 11-2, 11-2.

It was plain sailing, too, for Kerry Pottinger. She defeated Gail Attias, also of Gibraltar, 11-7, 11-4, 11-5. 

In the men’s competition, Billy Mycock had a good start with a 3-0 victory over Raul Sink of Saremaa. He then lost in straight sets to Jersey’s Nick Taylor. Teammate Ramsay Hogg lost 3-0 to the home island’s Nicholas Kyme in his first match.

CYCLING

In the cycling, Christine McLean finished seventh after a very tight women’s individual road race. Her time was just two seconds slower than Bermudan Nicole Mitchell’s 2:08:19. The hosts’s Karen Bordage took silver, while Guernsey’s Ann Bowditch claimed bronze.

Men’s cycling veteran Carlos Riise finished 18th in the men’s race. He completed the course in just over three hours, around 10 minutes outside the medals. Compatriot Scott Jamieson came 25th after finishing the course in just under three hours and nine minutes. Robin Atkinson was unable to finish, dropping out of the race shortly before the end.

This page will be regularly updated with results, photos and reaction from Bermuda throughout the week.