The new Aquathlon Sea Swim and Run event took place for the first time at Governor’s Beach on Saturday 17th March, 2018.  24 individuals and 27 two person teams competed in the 800 meter sea swim, followed by a 3000 meter run, a total of 78 participants. The race was a joint event by Cayman Islands Aquatic Sports Association (CIASA) and 345 Athletics Club, designed to add a second dimension to a race for Cayman’s athletes and build comradery between the two sports.

CIASA Race Director for Open Water Swimming, Duke Sullivan, commented: “It was nice to see our CARIFTA athletes from Swimming and Track team up for an enjoyable event. To be able to partner with 345 Athletics Club and create this race in which our elite athletes, kids and parents alike were able to take part in, made it a special day. With our sponsor, Sealand Adventure Tours, we look forward to hosting this event for years to come.”

The race started at 3:45pm with swimmers making an in-water start, heading north towards West Bay for 400 meters, around the turn buoy and back to Governor’s Beach for the hand-over to their running teammate, or put running shoes on for those going solo in the individual category.  Out of the water first was seasoned sea swimmers John Bodden with Team Bird Gang and Liam Henry with Team Young Distance, heading in to the transition together handing their timing chips over to runners Will Edwards and Joshua Steen respectively in just over 10 minutes.

The final result was up to the runners who headed north on West Bay Road, turned at Public Beach car park, down the Esterley Tibbetts bypass before making the final turn at Cost-u-Less and back to the Governor’s Beach through the finish-line.

First across the finish line was Will Edwards (Team Bird Gang) finishing his 3k run with 10:45.7 and an overall team time of 21:17.8. The quickest run of the day and the only person to break 10 minutes for the 3k was Victor Magalhaes in a time of 9:58.0 and moved his team ‘Los Dos’ from 7th place after the swim to 2nd overall position as their combined finish time was 21:39.0.

The first all female team across the line was ‘Slow Down for What’ with swimmer Kyra Rabess handing over to one of Cayman’s top female distance runners Ava Hider who ran the quickest female 3k of the day.  The quickest solo competitor out of the water was Jasmine Lambert-Wrag in 12 mins and 14 seconds and fastest overall female finisher in the individual category.

CIASA Technical Director, Coach Bailey Weathers, added: “It was an exciting event and something different for our athletes. I am sure this will become an annual event and hope to see age groups and mixed teams added next year. The weather was perfect with flat calm seas and there wasn’t much traffic on the road for our runners”.

Event sponsor, SeaLand Tours, CJ Moore shared: “It was my goal to make this a family event with a family team category, along with teams of elite swimmers and individuals who swam and ran both sections of the course. The primary reason for this event was to bring the comradery of different types of athletes together. The turn out was fabulous and everyone has been very happy with the event and we look forward to making it an annual event.”