PHILIPSBURG—St. Barths Stephan Lenoir won the Individual Olympic distance race in a twist of fate out of a 34-strong field at the 12th Annual Boardwalk Triathlon in Philipsburg Sunday after reigning champion Olivier Noglotte found himself disqualified after only completing three laps of the bike course instead of four.
The Guadeloupean (44) who has won this event no less than 10 times before, had seemingly won the Olympic distance comfortably after exiting the swim segment in third place and catching up to overtake his rivals. It was not clear why he, and second placed Adrien Alexandre who was also disqualified, misjudged their laps especially as Noglotte has taken part in this event so many times. Instructions clearly state participants are responsible for counting their own laps. Evidently one of the Olympic relay teams had also made the same mistake and got disqualified.
Lenoir completed the distance in 2:18:05 to win while Noglotte’s downfall shunted SXM Tri Academie’s Gregoire Pigeon up to second overall in 2:19:38 from fourth place. Pigeon said afterwards, before the news of Noglotte’s disqualification that he was disappointed not to have placed higher. In third place was Fabien Husson in 2:20: 37.
There was disappointment also for Nicole Erato in the Olympic Individual after she encountered mechanic trouble with the back wheel of her bike and was forced to retire.
“I had a bout a five minute lead until the last lap on the hill when my back wheel popped out and I couldn’t get it back on properly,” Nicole related. “I had to retire because you have to finish the segment before you can run.”
Despite the setback Nicole, who is preparing for the World Championships Half Ironman in Tennessee in September, indicated she wants to focus on Olympic distances in the future.
“Doing races like this will help me to get faster in the long distance races,” she explained. “It’s like when you want to become a faster runner you do sprints to get your body used to holding that fast speed before you transfer it over to the bigger races.”
The Olympic Relay event was won by the Punishers (Rashad Peterson swim, Mark Maidwell bike, and Celine Verdonck run) in 2: 20.32. Sprint Relay was won by Team Mano a Mano in 1:10:08. 15 teams took part in the Sprint Relay and eight for the Olympic Relay.
The Individual Sprint distance was won by Stephen Seymour in 1:13:31. Vincent Cantatore from St. Barths was second (1:14:16) and Maria Cedric third (1:15:22). Dean Hodge Jr can add triathlons to his resume after proving his swimming and running are almost as good as his biking at his first shot at the Individual event. He finished fifth overall in 1:16: 37 out of a 48-strong field. Last year he won the Olympic team relay with swimmer Freya Knaggs and runner Omarco Robinson.
Matheo Gosse was the top Individual junior finishing sixth overall in 1:18:17. He snatched the fastest swim time in an astonishing 12: 52. Kai Piscione was second junior overall in 10th place (1:21:02).
Sunday’s triathlon achieved the biggest participation to date with 160 participants, 40 more than previous years, noted organiser Juan Pablo Piscione.
“We had a great volunteer group this year comprising the Police, Dutch marines, the Harley Davidson group, and Neutral News, Mario from La Vista, and others which was really important to the success of this event, and we appreciate their contribution very much,” Juan Pablo said. “It’s thanks to the volunteers that this event has grown to what it is.”
