Le Cheminant adds first road win to CV

After raising plenty of eyebrows on the cross-country scene, the teenage triathlete impressed over a windswept 10km on Sunday to record his first significant road victory.

The second race of Guernsey Athletics Club’s road series unfolded over a different setting to that originally planned, with initial plans to revive the rarely-run Portelet to Grandes Rocques 10km being swept off course by strong winds and the threat of water splashing over the west coast.

The 143 finishers instead got an early taste of the EY Easter Festival course from Grandes Rocques to Northside.

The same strong winds proved generally favourable on the day and 17-year-old Le Cheminant, having lost out in the season opener to James Priest, put his feet down quickly to break the field.

He had already established a gap of over 100m on veteran Nick Mann by Vale Church, about 4km in, and continued to stride clear.

After battling a short spell of headwind resistance in the final 2km, the youngster stopped the clock in a very respectable 33min. 31sec.

Second-in-command Mann lowered his personal best to 34-37 – ahead of a sprint for third.

Returning Island Games runner Carl Holden took that honour, posting 35-32 after a race-long battle with Jersey’s Stuart Frazier, who finished 2sec. back. Veteran Matt Jamieson finished fifth with a 36-23 PB after leading in the first significant group of the day.

‘I’m really happy – wasn’t expecting to go that quick,’ the pleased winner said.

‘That wind definitely helped out a lot. It was smooth all the way to the Vale Castle and just that corner [onto the Bridge], it hurt a bit.

‘I felt a bit lonely out there, but once I settled into a rhythm, it felt alright.

‘Doing this run definitely got my confidence up from that five-miler from a couple weeks ago – just being able to hit a pace today and not getting stitches, and not feeling like I’m going to get one, it was nice.’

Elsewhere, Guernsey’s all-time 800m queen Nat Whitty continued her foray into road racing to place top woman and 20th overall.

She did so in a solid 39-08 to finish ahead of a great run from main rival Nix Petit.

Petit finished another 36sec. back to finally crack the 40min. barrier, with triathlete Chloe Truffitt continuing her progress towards that mark by posting 40-47.

Another minute back exactly came Jersey’s Chantelle Frazier who, like her husband, placed fourth.