MARCUS PREVEL gave himself a last-minute fitness test before joining in and winning the opening round of the Ogier and Le Masurier sponsored novice triathlon staged at Beau Sejour. Competitors faced a 500-metre swim, a nine-mile bike ride and a three-mile run.

Prevel took the men’s honours by more than a minute from leading swimmer Jonathan Le Noury, while Sam Herridge won the women’s event.

Two days before the race Prevel, 35, was laid up in bed with a stomach bug.

But he felt better on the morning of the race and went for a ‘little trot down the road,’ before deciding to go ahead.

‘I’m glad I did it in the end,’ said the former rower, who has dabbled with distance running since quitting competitive rowing and produced the second fastest running leg of the 18 male entries.

‘I was suffering a bit on the run. That’s when I started to feel the effects of the bug,’ added the winner.

With the presence of some of the island’s top swimmers, for Prevel and the rest it was always going to be a case of catch-up on the bike and run.

Most were experiencing triathlon for the very first time.

Predictably, first out of the pool after their 20 lengths were Le Noury and Tom Hollingsworth, who paced each other up and down the pool and were both credited with the same swim time of 6min. 9sec.

A fast transition followed into cycling gear and out onto the course. A mere nine seconds later Gail Strobridge was out of the water and onto her bike.

The athletes waiting for the second-wave start knew they had some work to do to match the pace of the early leaders.

Early leader and first out of the water from the second-wave start was another class swimmer, Herridge, who clocked 6-40.

Also in the second wave was Prevel, who was out of the pool in a modest 8-25.

Le Noury and Hollingsworth paced each other on the bike, coming back into transition two with only 10sec. between them and Le Noury leading.

The two then set out on the three-mile run over four laps of Beau Sejour and Cambridge Parks and enjoyed what appeared for the most part to be a steadily paced run together.

On the final lap Le Noury upped his pace to cross the line first; however his victory celebrations were to be short-lived.

Prevel worked hard on the bike to take the second fastest ride and run, crossing the line with the fastest overall time.

Strobridge likewise had to wait for the second wave to finish before knowing that Herridge had beaten her by two minutes overall.

Frankie Middleton posted the fastest woman’s run split of the day to take third spot.

Robert Gregson posted the fastest bike and run splits of the day, but was let down by his swim.

Le Noury, who has swum at the Commonwealth Games and won medals at the Island Games, thoroughly enjoyed the experience and has bought a road bike for the remaining races.

‘Tom and I did it on mountain bikes,’ he said.

‘It was really, really good fun.

‘At first I was a bit apprehensive, I didn’t realise how difficult would be.

‘The swim was okay – obviously – the cycle ride not as tough as I thought it might be, but the run was hard.

‘Getting off the bike and starting to run the legs felt like jelly.’

*The Ogier and Le Masurier summer triathlon series begins on Sunday 6 June at 9am at Pleinmont.

The first event consists of an 800m swim, 16-mile bike ride and four-mile run.

Details at www.gsytriclub.org.gg