Ben is back with Petit Bot victory

You would have to look back to the Gotland 2017 NatWest Island Games to find Ben Creasey’s last competitive triathlon outing, but now, after three years and some injury woes, he is clearly in great nick.

Creasey needed such form to dispatch James Travers, a serial winner of local events who no one has truly challenged in recent months, save for the absent Bob Guilbert.

But Creasey eventually won convincingly in 1hr 26min. 22sec. as his established opponent followed 1min. 54sec. behind.

This was on a unique course featuring a lapped ‘Aussie Exit’ swim of 800m, a 15-mile bike, and a multi-terrain 4-mile run to finish. Or at least that was its initial billing.

The swim came up around 400m long and this time around, there was no clear-cut leader upon its conclusion.

Three figures emerged from the smooth sea in close contention – Creasey, Travers and teenager Thierry Le Cheminant.

The first real indicator of Creasey’s dominance came on the bike leg, which he completed over a minute faster than the powerful Travers.

He then stretched his lead significantly on the tough and largely off-road run that followed.

‘I’ve had a couple niggles and things so I hadn’t raced, but it’s good to get one in the bank,’ said Creasey afterwards.

‘I’m feeling good and looking forward to the [Island Games] qualifiers.’

Le Cheminant placed a solid third, followed by Dave Mosley, who edged multiple Granite Man champion Mat Dorrian on the sprint.

There were few surprises in the women’s race as Amy Critchlow picked up a convincing victory.

Critchlow clocked 1-41-35 as Emily Squire, the other Island Games calibre woman in the field, followed four minutes behind. A similar gap separated Squire from third-placed Julie Chester.