Super teen Le Cheminant claims first senior victory
THIERRY LE CHEMINANT has – at just 15 years old – earned his first senior-level triathlon victory.
He achieved that milestone in yesterday’s quirky Amarreurs Uber Sprint as the improved Sammy Yendell addressed some Island Games qualifier disappointment with her first women's win of 2020.
The two victors earned their rewards over a windswept 800m swim, 15-mile bike and 4.75-mile run course, despite notable absences from the top tranche.
While Yendell’s win came as breezy as the pesky northerly winds, the overall honours went down to the last strides.
Le Cheminant swam strongly even by his standards, leading the point-to-point opener from Rousse to Amarreurs by almost a minute.
Sean Murphy followed, but more threatening was a chase pack harbouring Dave Mosley and Ove Svejstrup.
Veteran Svejstrup’s honed cycling allowed him to overturn a circa 90sec. deficit and assume the lead at Cobo, drawing further clear into transition.
But Le Cheminant was hot on his heels and overtook the former Danish international badminton star within the first mile of the ‘Full Course’ cross-country run.
Then came Mosley.
The 2019 Island Games debutant was eating up ground and seemed certain to overtake Svejstrup – achieved just past halfway.
At that point Le Cheminant looked catchable, soon confirmed when Mosley stole pole position with a mile left.
Only through a blistering kick along the finishing stretch did the teenager win in 1hr 23min. 6sec. – 21sec. clear.
‘Going by Chouet kiosk, we were side-by-side, and I hammered it to try and make a bit of a gap – I haven’t gone that quick before,’ he said.
‘I’m happy to get that first adult win. It’s a really nice course actually... much different to running the shorter version.’
Yendell dominated the battle for women's honours to post a finish time of 1-36-04.
Despite being ‘really gutted’ to recently miss out on potential Games qualification, the driven Yendell swam and cycled particularly strongly to win from Chloe Truffitt and Claire Allen, both over the 1hr 50min.mark.
‘It’s not really my forte, because it’s a short swim and a long run,’ she said.
‘The wind today just made it tough – I think that was the main factor and it was just hard.
‘But I enjoyed it and I had to do it really as it’s the last one of the season, apart from the cross-country “tri” [next month].’
With Le Cheminant too young to race Olympic distance at a 2021 Games, both are poised to benefit from the potential postponement and re-qualification. Time will tell.
