Pain in Paradise at Island House, Day 3

Gwen Jorgensen and Richard Murray maintained their lead from day two, to take victory at the Island House Invitational on Sunday.

After a huge day of gruelling Enduro on day two, day three proved even harder as sprinting became the ‘event of the day.’ The top ten male and female athletes headed to another island in the Bahamas for the final race: the private island of Highbourne Cay. Each athlete started according to their deficit on general classification to the two leaders.

Women’s Sprint Day 3 Island House

Holly Lawrence chased Jorgensen hard in the swim after starting 45 seconds behind, but Flora Duffy caught up to her. The two worked together on the bike to try to close the 30 second gap between them and Jorgensen. “I knew I had to go hard from the start if I wanted to shoot for the win today,” acknowledged Duffy.

The two women battled hard, and caught up to Gwen Jorgensen at the start of the second lap of the three-lap bike course. Duffy then began to dominate in the difficult technical sections and gained time heading into T2.

“Flora absolutely owned the technical sections of the bike course”, noted Lawrence post-race. “It’s a pretty technical course and I need to get some tips from her for the future!”

Lawrence, meanwhile was second off the bike and not far from the leader. Jorgensen wouldn’t give in though and, renowned for her impeccable running speed, she took back the lead at the 3km mark. She maintained her lead and took out the Island House victory for the second consecutive year.

Men’s Sprint Day 3 Island House

Close results from day two between the leader South Africa’s Richard Murray and USA’s Cameron Dye, made for an intense day of racing on day three. Murray led early in the swim but Cameron once again caught up during the bike. “He started to put time into me and I was worried,” said Murray, “I knew I needed to manage the gap in preparation for the run.”

Cameron Dye had a significant 30 second gap as they raced into the final transition but it wasn’t enough, with Murray taking the lead from the run’s halfway point, and maintaining his lead to the finish line. “I’m very happy. This is the best race of the season. Period,” said Murray. Cameron Dye took out second while Australia’s Aaron Royle overtook the Kiwi Terenzo Bozzone on the run to take out third.

Final Results – General Classification

Men

1 – Richard Murray – 3:35:35

2 – Cameron Dye – 3:36:04

3 – Aaron Royle – 3:38:13

4 – Terenzo Bozzone – 3:38:19

5 – Eric Lagerstrom – 3:38:35

6 – Leon Griffin – 3:38:55

7 – Brent McMahon – 3:39:01

8 – Joe Maloy – 3:39:19

9 – Sebastian Kienle – 3:39:46

10 – Lionel Sanders – 3:41:19

Women

1 – Gwen Jorgensen – 3:55:01

2 – Flora Duffy – 3:55:19

3 – Holly Lawrence – 3:56:17

4 – Sarah True – 3:58:51

5 – Rachel Klamer – 3:59:01

6 – Ellie Salthouse – 3:59:09

7 – Helle Frederiksen – 4:00:00

8 – Lauren Goss – 4:01:33

9 – Katie Zaferes – 4:02:16

10 – Emma Moffatt – 4:02:52