On Saturday, Richard Morgan won his second BVI Steelman title and Tash Ruscheinski, hot off her recent Semi Steel win, her first. Richard covered the 51.5km race in 2 hours, 42 minutes and 30 seconds, while Tash completed the course in 2 hours, 51 minutes and 54 seconds. Neither of last year’s winners – Chris Ghiorse and Gillian Howe – defend their titles.
Guy Williamson, Richard’s nearest challenger, exited the swim a mere 15 seconds behind Richard and was well into the nine-lap ride around Beef Island, when he rode into a bike-eating pothole puncturing both tires and forcing him to retire. For the remainder of the race, Richard was able to take his foot off the gas.
Adrian Dale and Simon Cook rounded out the podium places for the Mens division, while Kay Reddy and Jenny McIvor were second and third in the Ladies division. Richard won his first Steelman in 2012.
Four teams competed – The Three Stooges, Drink Strong, Manuel’s Angels, and Team Carroll – with the Three Stooges (Paul Waldron, Laurent Keeble-Buckle and Dan Mitchell), taking the victory. The BVI Steelman is an Olympic distance race with a 1.5km swim, 40km ride and 10km run, the last and most challenging event of the BVI Triathlon Federations’s annual calendar.
The Mens and Ladies records set in 2007 and 20111 respectively still stand: Mens: Chris Ghiorse, 2:27:03, 2007; Womens: Sally Blackmore, 2:49:45, 2011.
ABRIDGED RESULTS
Mens Indiviudal
Richard Morgan 2:42:30
Adrian Dale 2:51:26
Simon Cook 2:56:06
Guy Williamson DNF
Ladies Individual
Tash Ruscheinski 2:51:54
Kay Reddy 2:58:17
Jenny McIvor 3:02:13
Rhiannon Jones N/A
Teams
The Three Stooges (Paul Waldron, Laurent Keeble-Buckle, Dan Mitchell) 2:37:54
Drink Strong (Chris, Jonathan, Ciaran) 2:41:09
Manuel’s Angels (Tia, Aurelie, Manuel) 3:03:05
Team Carroll (Sarah, Simon, Grant) 3:05:42