TIM JOHNS took the honours over the extremely challenging Petit Bot course in the third round of the De Putron Summer Series. Eighteen seniors took on the 800m swim, 20-mile bike ride and four-and-a-half-mile run starting at the bottom of the valley while three juniors competed over legs of 400m, 12 miles and two miles respectively.

Johns completed the event in a creditable 1hr 42min. while Island Games medallist Gail Merrien was the first woman home six minutes later.

Paul Brehaut had led out of the water after Merrien had made an uncharacteristic mistake of starting a third swim lap.

The leader then took advantage of the considerable cycle training he had undertaken in preparation for the Island Games to further increase the gap between him, Johns and Hubert Nicolle.

‘After turning at the halfway point on the bike course, I saw that Johns and Nicolle were behind me. I realised that I needed to put in some extra effort in order to capitalise on my lead as they are currently both stronger runners than I am,’ Brehaut said.

Adrian Thorley, a recent recruit to triathlon, completed an excellent bike leg to improve from last position after the swim to ninth on the return to the bottom of the valley.

The run course, which is considered the hardest of all in the series, consisted of two laps of an approximately two-mile uphill slog out of the valley and along the paths before returning to the cafe.

Johns overhauled Brehaut on the second lap and completed the leg in just over 29 minutes.

Brehaut managed to hang on for second place with more than a minute to spare on Nicolle.

Shanine Johns, after a tightly fought contest with Andre Lanyon over the bike and run legs, was the second woman home.

Alex Ford led from start to finish in the junior event.

After leading Martin Chapman out of the water in just over five minutes, he increased the gap further over the next two sections to leave the contest for the series’ best junior finely balanced.

The next event is the Pembroke Olympic Triathlon on 16 September, which coincides with the Guernsey Tri Club’s 20th anniversary.

‘It would be fantastic if not only everyone currently interested in triathlon but all those people who have ever competed in an event organised by the club could compete,’ said president Mark Naftel.

‘We want to make the day a real celebration of everything that has been achieved by the club over the past 20 years.’

The event comprises a 1.5km swim, 40km bike ride and 10km run. Juniors will compete over 750m, 20km and 5km.

In addition, corporate teams are encouraged to enter whereby three individuals complete one leg of the race each.

It starts at 8am and there are plans for a social event to be held afterwards.

Further information can be obtained from Dave Holmes at d@veholmes.com or Naftel at mark.naftel@cwgsy.net or visit www.gsytriclub.org.gg