Ellice, a regular visitor to the club who last year finished 16th at the ITU World Triathlon Championships, won the race but commented on Jersey’s improved performance after only taking the lead, and eventual win, 2 km from the finish.
‘He said that the bar really has been raised an awful lot,’ explained Island Games triathlon team manager Andy Kemp.
‘That’s gratifying to hear when we are so close to Rhodes.
‘The team really have been performing so well – they were exceptional in Shropshire two weeks ago and they carried that on yesterday.
To see performances like that against someone like Ellice was great.
‘The hard work is really paying off now and it’s just a case of keeping them injury free until we get to Rhodes – but as I said from the start I think the men’s team will come away with team gold, and the ladies’ team bronze.’ Daniel Halksworth was the first Jersey triathlete to cross the line behind Ellice after leading the race following the 900m swim with a supreme performance while Scott Pitcher and Paul Clements bridged the gap during the 20k bike leg to make it a four way battle out onto the 5k run.
Pitcher, a much improved runner, healed his form to cross the line third with veteran Clements close behind in fourth.
Tracey Huish and Jenny O’Brien had to fight it out for the women’s title as they were the only female competitors on the day.
Applying themselves extremely well with some very rapid run finishes Huish crossed the line first with O’Brien a couple of minutes behind.
Kemp also commended Steve Price who put in an excellent swim against the Island Games team to finish sixth in that leg while Doc Snook also impressed with a good swim and bike sector while Paul Tanguy had a good finish with Matt Gambles in the run.
