Chapple victorious in Ironman 70.3 Barcelona

The Gibraltar 2019 triathlon silver medallist produced a golden performance during the Ironman Barcelona weekend in Spain, where a particularly strong Guernsey men’s contingent – including four members of the recently-picked Island Games squad – tackled the full 140.6 miles.

Chapple finished first woman by nearly 17min. and eighth overall for the shorter distance, which at 1.2-mile swim, 56-mile cycle and 13.1-mile run is still no walk in the park, and qualified for next year’s Ironman 70.3 World Championship in Finland.

But the London-based Guernseywoman admitted she had simply been targeting a result in the 25-29 age group.

‘I was hoping to do well in my age group, but to win it overall I am completely shocked – super happy,’ she said. ‘I’d had a cold since Thursday. My body felt really tired by the end of that.’

Chapple negotiated the swim comfortably as third woman, before picking off the last of her rivals just over halfway into a flat and fairly quick bike course, where she averaged almost 25mph.

A solid sub-90min. half marathon split got her over the line in 4hrs 23min. 46sec.

Chapple’s cycle and run remain her strongest disciplines. Indeed, she agrees that she may be even more suited to 70.3s than the proportionately swim-heavier Olympic distance.

‘There’s a lot of strong girls in my age group who do 70.3, so it will be interesting to see how I do at the Worlds next year.’

Two veterans fared particularly well over the exhausting full Ironman – 2.4 miles of swimming, 112 miles of cycling and a 26.2 mile marathon run.

After edging into the Guernsey 2023 squad as ‘sixth man’, Ove Svejstrup showed tremendous staying power to finish more than 20min. ahead of James Travers, who just about held off an in-form Alan Rowe.

Evergreen endurance star Rowe’s devoted training paid off in earning him an age 55-59 title.

Travers had shone in the water with the 12th quickest swim overall, but Svejstrup used his cycling prowess to slice through the field, reaching final transition 3min. faster than the experienced Games man.

Travers closed the gap within the early miles of the marathon run, only to soon begin struggling.

Svejstrup ultimately claimed Guernsey honours and 31st overall in 9-32-18, followed by top-65 finishes from Travers (9-52-57) and Rowe (9-53-15).

Chris Norman also broke the 10hr barrier after out-duelling local rival Dave Mosley, who lost ground with IT band problems on the run.

Izzie Grierson topped the smaller women’s Ironman 140.6 contingent, clocking 12-53-58.