Three Bermudian triathletes took part in the Great Britain Triathlon Performance Assessment Weekend as part of their preparations for the new season.

Nicholas Pilgrim, Ollie Hayward and Jacob Wright participated in the first event of the British Triathlon Youth & Junior Super Series. All athletes seeking to race in the super series are required to attend the event, with the results setting the order of entry for the initial races in the schedule.

Senior athletes are also required to attend the weekend to compete for starting places in GB Triathlon Tier 1 events. The assessments included a pool swim time-trial on Saturday at the University of Nottingham followed by a combined, timed bike-run on Sunday at Kendrew Barracks in Rutland (a former Royal Air Force airfield).

The young Bermuda triathletes all performed extremely well in the tough conditions, with their strength on the bike legs being particularly noticeable. The next race in the series will be in Llanelli, Wales on May 10.

Bath University student Pilgrim competed in the senior open category where he placed sixth overall in a field of 47 in a bike-run time of 48min 07sec. On the first day of racing, he recorded a time of 9:07 for the 800m swim time-trial, placing seventeenth after the swim. This set his start position for the bike-run leg on Sunday.

One of the faster swimmers from Saturday went off the front of the pack, but Pilgrim managed to catch up in the first of the four bike laps. The Bermudian then rode off the front of the pack in an effort to catch the leader, entering the second transition in second place, recording the second fastest bike split of 29:43, followed by a 5k run time of 16.51.

Pilgrim’s performance should see Pilgrim able to enter Tier 1 races on the GB Triathlon calendar.

“The race went really well,” the 22-year-old said. “It was a windy day, this made the bike quite hard which suited my strengths.

“I had a solid run off as well considering the hard bike, however I would’ve wanted a bit of a quicker run.

“The first race is May 10 in Wales, but these aren’t very big races for me. They’re helping me prepare for the more important A races in June and the rest of summer.”

Wright and Hayward competed in the youth A and B categories respectively. They navigated a 400m time-trial swim, a 10km bike and a 2.5km run.

Hayward recorded a time of 4:49 for the swim, placing him 30th of 50. He placed 17th overall of 49 finishers after the bike and run legs, recording the eighth fastest bike split of 15:58, before finishing with a run time of 8:46 in windy conditions.

The 17-year-old, who won a junior achievement award at the 43rd Annual Sports Awards, is excited by what is lying ahead this season. Hayward is also in line to be selected in Bermuda’s team for the Carifta Games later this month.

“Despite solid training this winter leading up to the event, things took an unexpected turn when my goggles filled with water on the third lap, leaving me with limited visibility,” he said.

“Frustrated as I was, I was determined when I went to the race on Sunday knowing I had some ground to make up. On the bike I managed to regain some lost time as despite the gusting winds, the technical course played to my strengths.

“The run was much harder against the wind and I had to work hard to hold it together. It was a fast but tactical race and another great learning experience, I’m really excited to see how I can push myself further this season.”

Wright, who is recovering from a recent chest infection, was determined to race in the youth A category, being the largest class with 86 starters.

The 16-year-old recorded a swim time of 5:07, placing him 54th after the swim. On the second day of racing, he completed the 5K bike in a time of 8.31, the ninth fastest bike split.

However, he struggled on the run but rounded off the 2.5K in a time of 10.04, for a total bike-run time of 20:47, placing 57th overall.