The resurgent competitor, formerly a promising junior runner and cyclist, came out top in the Rocquaine Long(er) Distance Duathlon – the third domestic event of the Guernsey Triathlon Club calendar.
Previously he had been playing second fiddle to Ethan Woodhead, but his absence during marathon recovery left his rival instead to do battle with Island Games cyclist Matt Osborn.
Rightly wary of his rival’s bike strength, he had finished the roughly three-mile opening run leg with an advantage of 1min. 19sec.
That had served him well until he was caught halfway through the bike leg, which spanned 23 miles with a climb up Imperial Hill and more gradual descent down L’Eree.
The two riders came in together only for Le Cheminant to transition significantly faster and use his superior run legs again over the repeated three-miler.
He claimed the milestone win in 1-37-18, coming in 2-19 clear of his rival.
‘I’m very happy to take my first Tri Club win,’ Le Cheminant said.
‘It was a good race. I think the slightly longer distances over the first Rocquaine race suited me well.’
Jack Gaudion finished third in 1-44-58 after overcoming a firm challenge from Craig Roberts, against whom he made critical ground on the second run to arrive 46sec. clear.
The women’s race proved somewhat chaotic and led to late drop-outs from both of the recent Island Games triathletes in the field.
Orkney 2025 individual silver medallist Hannah Kennedy was mixing it with the chasing pack of male triathletes and looked almost assured of women’s honours.
However, she then suffered a race-ending tumble in the final kilometre of the run.
Guernsey’s flag-bearer in Orkney, veteran Amy Critchlow, would have become the favourite had she not withdrawn during the final run due to work commitments.
And so fellow veteran Jamy Petit-Fulgoni, an Island Games mountain-biker at Guernsey 2023, was left to take top spot in 2-06-42.
She nevertheless had a close race with Marta Vila-Mola, who came in just another 46sec. back.
In the shorter support race, Fraser Bourgaize claimed the win in 1-05-52 after putting in a strong second run to gap fellow junior Josh Pailing, who finished 41sec. behind.
Veteran Dan-Reoch Brehaut cycled strongly and was also in contention until the final run but had to settle for third in 1-07-37.
Another veteran, Belinda Smith, made ground on all-round fitness fanatics Amy Merrien and Steph Le Prevost to take women’s honours in 1-23-46.
