Erica Hawley was left delighted after getting her season underway in positive fashion by securing a sixth place finish at the 2019 Sarasota-Bradenton CAMTRI Sprint Triathlon American Cup at Nathan Benderson Park, Florida on Saturday.

Having competed in her first International Triathlon Union race as a junior at the same venue in 2014, where she finished 39th, the 21 year-old Bermudian returned to compete in the Elite Women’s category and enjoyed far greater success.

Taking on the 750 metre swim, 18.3km bike and 5km run, Hawley crossed the finish line in an encouraging time of 58min 06secs, finishing slightly over a minute behind the overall winner, Canada’s Amelie Kretz, who took the victory in a time of 56.57.

“It was a great season opener and a good indicator of where my fitness is at,” Hawley said. “There are still many things to work on before my next race in New Plymouth, New Zealand, at the end of March, but it was nice to see that I could achieve the result I had aimed for.

“This winter has been tough for training — almost always indoors due to the snow and cold weather. But it was still possible to attain a promising result in a strong field. I also managed to get the fastest bike which is always nice.”