Lewis out of sight as he takes gold in Island Games triathlon

Sunday 09 July 2023

Guernsey’s Josh Lewis was simply untouchable.

From the moment the triathletes hit the water in Rocquaine Bay he was gone, leaving Jersey’s Ollie Turner and the Isle of Man’s Will Draper to fight it out over the remaining podium spots, swapping positions on the bike and run until eventually Turner made the decisive move.

Lewis took time to soak up the electric atmosphere as he came down the finish stretch, just reward for the hard work put in earlier the day.

Massive win for @GuernseyTri Josh Lewis at Rocquaine, time to soak it all up on the finish line! Jersey’s Ollie Turner holds off IoM’s Will Draper for second. Huge reception!!@Guernsey_2023. The team medals are still up for grabs here. pic.twitter.com/a1YCySiadV

— Bailiwick Express Guernsey (@BailiwickGsy) July 9, 2023

“I can't put into words how much it means to me that so many people turned up,” he said.

Coming into the race he had fully expected to sit on Turner’s feet in the swim.

“But I got a really good start and then I had to commit from there on because I knew if I could break a bit of a line, then I'd have a good chance of getting away.”

Pictured: Josh Lewis celebrates his win in front of a vocal home crowd.

The bike required a cool head on a course that took a few victims. For Lewis it was a case of keeping calm on the run and managing the distance to his competitors.

“By the last lap, I saw the gap wasn't coming down too much and I could relax and enjoy the atmosphere.”

That included a high five with his family and girlfriend heading out towards the last turn on the run.

It was a rare outing over the Olympic distance for Lewis, more accustomed to 70.3 events.

“It's really quite tough. It's over before you know it,” he joked.

Pictured: The start of the men's race. 

Turner said it was a tough day.

“I’ve got no excuses, I just wasn't good enough today. Josh was incredible. Just from the start, I didn't even see him. I thought I was leading to the first buoy, I looked left and he was that far ahead I couldn't even see him.”

He trains side by side with Lewis every day so both know each other's strengths and weaknesses.

“I knew as soon as I saw the gap go in the swim that it was going be near to impossible to catch up on the bike, the guy’s a bullet on the bike. He's just got power that I do not have.”

He tried to push the first 10k and held the gap, but the second climb of L’Eree hill was a turning point. At that point he decided to concentrate on his own race, the gap growing as backmarkers came into play in neutral no overtaking zones.

The bike leg in Guernsey was non-drafting and on TT bikes, a major difference to the draft legal races Turner normally competes in where you can sit in a pack and benefit from the work of others.

“I've been focusing purely on the run this year. Because I'm doing most of the World Tour stuff and if you can't run fast, there's no point really. I think I showed today I ran well, but  my bike legs are somewhere back in 2019.”

Draper said it was a tough battle with Turner.

“I knew both Josh and Ollie would have good swims. I unfortunately had a bit of a rough swim, I had quite a lot of saltwater come up in the goggles. But these things happen.”

Unsighted, he had to keep other people near in the water and the gap out of the water was more than he would have hoped for. When he passed turned on the bike he put in a push to create a gap before T2.

“I knew he's going to have a fast transition and a fast first few kms coming from that short course background.”

After losing second to Turner in the run, he had been closing when a previous achilles injury calmed his efforts.

“Credit to Josh and Ollie on their performances.”

Turner praised the organisers for all the work they put in behind the scenes.

Pictured: Dave Mosley.  

Guernsey’s team of Lewis, Thierry Le Cheminant, Dave Mosley, Chris Norman, Ove Svejstrup and James Travers took silver, behind Jersey’s Thomas Atkinson, Dave Holmes, Jack Kennedy, Richard Tanguy and Turner. Isle of Man were third in the team event. 

The first three members counted towards the overall times.

Jersey’s Atkinson was fourth in the individual. Guernsey’s Mosley sixth, Travers eighth, Norman ninth and Le Cheminant 11th.

Pictured: James Travers.

Norman knew the swim was his weakest discipline, so tried hard to stay in contention before pushing hard on the bike.

“I was overwhelmed with how much support we brought down here. You had to be a little bit careful as you came through, especially on the run, because every time you hear the crowd behind you, you actually drop 10 seconds a km.”

He praised his fellow team members.

“You've got such a strong squad and you know that everyone just gives you absolutely everything.”