Lewis blames his refuelling for fade

The Island Games champion went out of his comfort zone to place a very respectable eighth at the Dorney Triathlon in Eton, his first Professional Triathletes Organisation race.

Not only was the standard of opposition daunting but the duration a considerable step-up on what Lewis is used to, with the swim adopting the Half Ironman length of 1.9km, plus the 60km bike leg and 15km run each being 50% longer than Olympic distance.

Lewis produced an excellent swim to not only lead the race out the water, but do so by a convincing margin of 43sec.

He was still leading until four laps into the bike – a 12-lap course – at which point Tom Davis and Luke Pollard came past him.

Entering the run, he was third and within a minute of the leaders. But it took only around 2km for the effects of under-fuelling on the bike – compounded by scorching temperatures – to start taking their toll.

He struggled home with only the 14th fastest run split to post a 2hrs 37min. 45sec. finish, just over 6min. down on winner Davis, who sits 40th in the PTO’s global rankings.

‘It’s a step in the right direction in terms of what I want to execute in a race,’ he said after a race where there were other casualties, not least Pollard passing out 100m before the finish.

‘I know it’s not my running that was hampering my performance, it was my nutrition on the bike.

‘It’s something to work on.’

Among the triathletes he defeated was Manx star and Gibraltar 2019 silver-medallist Will Draper, who placed 10th.

The result stands Lewis in good stead for an even longer challenge this coming weekend.

Lewis will be making his Ironman 70.3 bow at the Outlaw Half Nottingham, the longest race of his career so far. He is racing frequently for experience, and does not mind whether his events are short or long.

'For me, it's just about getting out there and racing and putting down a really good effort.'