The 4th Annual Generali Mercuryman, the Cayman Islands’ only half iron distance Triathlon, took place on Sunday January 17th with local triathletes and overseas professional triathletes competing in the Aquabike, Team Relay, 2-2-2 and Half Iron Distance events. The overall winner for the professional triathletes division was Rachel Joyce completing the 1.2 mile swim in a time of 31:03, a 56 mile cycle in 2:25:33 and 13.1 mile run in 1:35:13, for an overall time of 4:34:13.7. Local triathlete Marius Acker took first place in the men’s age group division with a time of 4:41:47.7. Rebecca Wall placed first in the women’s division with an overall time of 6:19:07.9.
Local triathlete Sean Day placed first in the men’s Aquabike category with a total finishing time of 3:19:09.6, while Ashley Naelon, from North Carolina, finished first in the female Aquabike race with a time of 3:23:14.7.
Local relay teams enjoyed the competition with top finishes earned by “Small, Medium & Large” (mixed), “ATF 345” (male) and “The British Birds Are Giving It A Tri” (female). Generali Worldwide’s team came out on top in the 2-2-2 category with an overall time of 6:09:19.1.
Ms Karen Ebanks, Marketing Coordinator at Generali Worldwide, said Generali Worldwide was proud to be a part of such an exciting event for a second year.
“We are honored to once again be involved in such a challenging world-class event, showcasing the Cayman Islands and giving our local triathletes the opportunity to complete against professionals who are among the best in the world. Special congratulations to our sponsored athletes, Marcella Zawistowski who finished third in the women’s Half Iron Distance, and Genevieve Georgiades and Flip du Plessis for their first place 2-2-2 team finish.” she said.
Race Directors Trevor Murphy, Justine Plenkiewicz and Claire Griffin thanked race day volunteers, the event sponsors and timing experts Race Caribbean, for all the input that helped make Generali Mercuryman such a fantastic success.
“We were very pleased to have professional athletes of the calibre of Rachel Joyce, who finished second in the World Championships in Kona in last year, take part in this year’s event and have received some great feedback from visiting athletes who we hope to see back in Cayman next year for our 5th Annual Mercuryman,” Mr Murphy said.
Ms Plenkiewicz said the support from volunteers and the local community had been stronger than ever for this year’s event.
“It was great to see everyone getting involved in what was another successful year for the Generali Mercuryman. Supporters of the Stroke Warriors of Cayman as well as children from East End Primary School did their bit to cheer on athletes and offer water at the various water stations,” she said.
As well as Generali Worldwide’s generous sponsorship of Generali Mercuryman 2016, organisers thanked Tower, CUC, Dart, Fosters Food Fair, Living the Dream Divers, Regenexx, Cayman National and Maples for their kind support of the event.
View full race results by visiting: mercurymantri.com/results/2016raceresults or racecaribbean.net/mercuryman-2016-results
