ALAN ROWE won the inaugural Guernsey Granite Man at Pembroke yesterday.  The local athlete finished well clear of the rest of the field, with his winning margin being around 10-minutes from second-placed James Amy.

However, it was only on the final half-marathon length run that Rowe (pictured) overturned Amy’s lead, before turning the screw. At the end, the champion was delighted and admitted that he had exceeded his own expectations.

‘I was hoping for a top three finish, but I was quite a bit quicker than my estimate at the start. It was a bit of the unknown because I usually do only Olympic distance triathlons, which is about half the length.’

Despite being behind Amy for much of the race, Rowe was aware that he was in a good position to catch his rival. ‘As we were cycling, I was getting the time splits, so I knew that if I kept up my pace, I should be in with a good shout.’

The event, which is half the distance of a full Ironman, consisted of a 1.9km swim across the bay followed by a 70km cycle around the island and a 13-mile run.