RASCALS NATIONAL AQUATHLON CHAMPIONSHIPS 2022
The Barbados Federation of Island Triathletes (BFIT) hosted its second National Aquathlon Championships. In partnership with title sponsor Rascals Barbados Waterpark, the event took place along Brandon’s Beach and the Mighty Grynner Highway late last month.
The highly anticipated Championships was welcomed by avid triathletes and catered to over 50 competitors across 6 categories, ranging from ages 7 to 62. The event commenced bright and early at 7:00 a.m. sharp with the National Championship race, a 2.5 km run, followed by a 1 km swim around Rascals Water Park and a 2.5 km race to finish.
Sixteen-year-old Fynn Armstrong, the youngest competitor in the Championship category, finished victorious in an overall time of 35 minutes and 18 seconds.
The rising star who recently qualified to represent Team Barbados at the upcoming CARIFTA Athletics Championship, showed his running prowess as he opened the race in the fastest time with 09:04 minutes. He exited the water first, with a swim time of 16:17 minutes, and powered through the final run leg in an impressive 09:08 minutes, only 4 seconds slower than his opening run. Second place went to BFIT President Darren Treasure, who finished in an overall time of 40:01 minutes,10:03, 18:29, and 11:01 minutes in the run, swim, and run legs respectively rounding out the top three males was Cary Banfield in a time of 45:03.
The female crown went to nineteen-year-old Zahra Gaskin, who was recently awarded a triathlon scholarship to Wingate University in North Carolina, was the first female to finish in the Championship race; she placed third overall in a time of 41:15 minutes (11:01 run, 17:28 swim, 12:16 swim), second place female was earned by fellow National development program teammate Kayla Renwick in a time of 46:50.
The Open category – a 500m run, 500m swim, 500m run – saw six competitors in the tightly contested event. Garth McIntyre, crossed the finish line first in an overall time of 21:26 minutes, followed by Colin Telford and Vaughn Renwick in 22:10 and 23:28 minutes respectively. The first female to finish (4th overall) was Gabrielle Ache in 23:33 minutes followed by Dorothee Roy in 26:06.
The age group categories followed the Open and Championship races with 40 competitors across the 4 groups. Luke McIntyre followed in his father’s footsteps and took the gold in the 13-15 category (500m swim, 2.5km run) ahead of training partner Cain Banfield. The two competitors were head to head for the swim leg with Cain exiting the water one second faster than Luke in a time of 08:26 minutes. Luke, however, quickly gained his ground and distanced himself on the run to finish with a comfortable lead in an overall time of 17:30 minutes (run – 08:51) and Cain in a time of 20:09 minutes (run – 11:31). Third place went to Michael Hall in 09:36 and 22:18 minutes for the swim and run respectively. The first-place female winner was Hailey Brathwaite in an overall time of 32:09 minutes who was then followed by Zariah Rosemond to claim second place amongst the females.
In the 11-12 category (250m swim, 1.25km run) Zindzele Renwick-Williams, captured the title in 11:16 minutes edging runner-up Matthew Briggs-Legall who finished in a time of 11:19 minutes and third place going to Micah James in 13:36. The dynamic trio of young females battled it out in the 11-12 group with Laila “the Lioness” McIntyre the first female to cross the line (3rd overall), in a time of 11:58 minutes. Then the officials and spectators had to do a double take as identical twins and training partners Ali Banfield 13:03 and Hailey Banfield 13:05 finished second and third respectively.
Keeping it all in the family, Yele Renwick-Williams claimed the gold in the 9-10 category (100m swim, 1km run) to finish in a time of 08:13 minutes, followed by Joshua Parris in 08:27 minutes and Kian Brits in 9:04 for second and third amongst the boys. Ayofemi Roach, first amongst the females and third overall in a time of 08:59 minutes was followed by Ziya Phillips (9:43) and Jayla-Maria Blunte (10:30) to complete the girls podium.
The youngest competitors in the Rascals National Aquathlon Championships, rounded out the Under 8 category with Maleek Howard finishing the 50m swim in a time of 03:21 minutes and the 500m run in 05:50 meters. The second and third place spots went to Zahavi Small in an overall time of 06:17 minutes and Liam Gamble in 06:43 minutes. The lone female in the Under 8 category Nya Nurse, finished fifth overall in a time of 06:52 minutes.
Overall the event was a success and BFIT looks to build on this event annually. The venue lends itself well to this type of event, after the business of racing was finished the competitors and spectators enjoyed the facilities at Rascals Restaurant and Waterpark.
