Tyler Smith and Erica Hawley produced solid displays at the Salinas World Cup Triathlon in Ecuador on Sunday.

In both the men’s and women’s races — a sprint distance of 750-metres swim, 20km swim and 5km run — very little separated two large groups of athletes coming into the second transition. In the end, it came down to who had the fastest run.

Hawley, a student at the University of Boulder, was well placed after a 9min 49sec swim, entering the first transition with a large group of athletes.

The 20-year-old matched the pace of the large leading pack, her run time of 18:33 was respectable but the top 27 competitors all dipped under 18 minutes.

Hawley’s overall time of 1:00:24 left her just one minute off a ten-ten finish in 39th position.

Meanwhile, Tyler Smith’s race followed a similar pattern, as he too emerged from the water with a large group in a time of 9:09 and then rode the 20km in 27:22 to enter the second transition with a large group just 20 seconds short of the leading group.

The run proved decisive as the winner, David Castro of Spain, ran 14:31 with Smith clocking 15:44 to finish in exactly 54 minutes overall. The Bermudian was just over one minute outside of a top-ten finish, placing 41st.