New faces dominate Bali Triathlon winners’ list

The Bali International Triathlon in its sixth year saw mostly new winners, especially in the individual category for both Olympic and sprint distance.

Stephane Vander Bruggen from Belgium came first in all categories, taking the victory away from Australian Michelle Mitchel, who had finished top for three consecutive years.

Bruggen crossed the finish line in 2:07:14 in the annual competition held in Jimbaran Bay. He completed his swim in 23:38 then jumped on his bike and recorded a time of 1:02:27, reaching the finish line after completing his run in 38:54.

In the community-based event, participants swam 1.5 kilometers in an Olympic-distance race in the tropical waters of Jimbaran Bay, before embarking on a 42-kilometer bike race and a 10-kilometer run through the streets of Nusa Dua and the Ungasan peninsula. While for the sprint-distance race, they had to begin with a 500-meter swim, followed by a 20-kilometer bike race and a 5-kilometer run.

In the men’s category, Bryan Hoare from Great Britain took second place after Bruggen, as he completed the three races within 2:12:21, followed by Tim Green from Australia who came third with 2:12:27.

Last year’s winner in the individual men’s category for the Olympic-distance race, David Boyes from Australia, fell to 18th on this occasion recording an overall time of 2:26:20.

His wife, Michelle Boyes, took second place in the women’s category for the Olympic-distance race by reaching the finish line in 2:26:18. She was right behind Stef Puszka from Australia, the winner in the category, who had a total time of 2:23:50 after completing her swim in 27:38 before going to the bike race, which took 1:07:09, and completing her run in 46:40.

Taking third for this category was Sherry Coons-Mueller from the USA, with a total time of 2:27:40.

For the team category in the Olympic-distance race, the DKPH (A) team, consisting of Samgar Kalamsi, I Made Budiyasa and Dyon Efendi, won the first prize for completing the race in 2:09:16.

Andi Wibowo was the fastest Indonesian athlete in the competition, completing the race in 2:23:47. He finished swimming in 23:26, biking in 1:11:00 and running in 46:19.

For the individual sprint distance, Wayne Veitch from Australia took first place with a total time of 01:04:15. The female winner for this category was Lesley McDonald from Australia, who crossed the finish line in 01:15:46.

This year, the race introduced a new, faster and flatter bike circuit for safety reasons, as well as having a new Race Central set up in the gardens of the InterContinental Bali Resort.

Participants began the triathlon swimming to the north of the InterContinental Bali Resort, where swim buoys were placed to border the race area.

On finishing the swimming, the bike race came next with the route going from the resort along Jl. Raya Uluwatu, heading down Jl. Bypass toward the BTDC tourist complex in Nusa Dua. Participants competing in the Olympic-distance race had to complete two laps, while those joining the sprint-distance race only had to complete one lap.

The last part of the race, running, took place along the narrow Jl. Raya Uluwatu, heading to Kedonganan fish market.

Total participants for this year amounted to 879, exceeding the estimate of 827. The number was higher than last year’s 703, race organizer Andreas Kansil said.

He said the race ran smoothly without any accidents, although it had caused traffic jams at the junction near Udayana University in Jimbaran, but the organizer and the police successfully managed this.