New Zealand athlete Torenzo Bozzone was a newcomer to St. Croix, but he made himself right at home Sunday, winning first place in the men’s division in the St. Croix Ironman 70.3 Triathlon.
The 25-year-old Bozzone, on St. Croix for the first time, finished in 4 hours, 6 minutes, and 2 seconds.
The swim was nice and relatively calm, he said, but then St. Croix showed why it’s one of the more rugged competitions on the circuit.
“The second half of the race is a struggle with the hills, wind, and heat and you start to dehydrate,” the 25-year-old Bozzone said. “This is a tough course.”
He said he couldn’t find his legs early on, but he found them at the finish. Most runners legs appeared a bit rubbery as they came across the finish line.
Catriona Morrison, defending women’s champion, kept her title with first- place again on St. Croix in the women’s division and seventh overall. Not bad for the 33-year-old, red- haired lass from Edinburgh, Scotland, finishing at 4:31:06.
“This is an unusual position for me, I’m usually a catcher and not in front,” Morrison said. “The last part of the bike race was hilly and lumpy and I really had to concentrate.”
The $50,000 purse is divided among the top 10, with the first- place man and woman taking home $7,000 each.
Defending champion, Tim O’Donnell, who broke the course record last year, came in second with 4:06:39 and Tyler Butterfield was third with 4:10:38. Sam Warriner took second for women in 4:42:28 and third went to Erin O’Hara at 4:54:27.
The pre-race favorite, Craig Alexander, was in third when he hit a pot hole in Peter’s Rest and took a minor spill.
Will Piel, a junior at Country Day School, held on to his first-place title in the St. Croix Sprint Triathlon, a shortened version of the Ironman.
It was hot and humid, with the temperature around 85 by 10:30 a.m., when the runners started to cross the finish line, but there was a good breeze.
O’Donnell, age 29, from Boulder, Co., said it is really hard to not fall apart in the heat and humidity on St. Croix.
The race began with swimmers diving into the sea from the beach on Protestant Cay and swimming 1.2 -miles. Next they jumped on their bikes at Fort Christiansvaern and pedaled 56 grueling miles around St. Croix. At the 20 mile mark is the “beast” that Tom Guthrie, race director, puts in perspective saying “imagine riding a bicycle up the Washington Monument.”
Back in Christiansted the runners take off on the last leg, a hot and sweaty, 13.1-mile run east toward the Buccaneer Resort and back.
Jason Henry, of St. Croix Rescue, said there were no major mishaps. He said one woman went to the hospital for a problem she had while swimming. He said there were medics all along the race route making sure people were safe and volunteers gave out water everywhere. A tent was set up on the fort lawn with chaise lounges for participants to relax and get checked out by medics, if need be. A tent was set up where volunteers massaged away runners’ charley horses.
Local sponsors include the Department of Tourism, Buccaneer Resort, James River Capital, Chenay Bay Beach Resort and Centerline Car Rentals.
Results can be found at ironman.com and complete results, sprint included, are at stcroixtriathlon.com.