Nick Pilgrim signed off from the Junior Elite ranks with a highly respectable 22nd-place finish in the Americas Triathlon Championships in, Montevideo, Uruguay on Saturday.

Pilgrim ended the wetsuit-legal 750-metre swim at the front of the lead pack with him then exiting transition on to the bike leg in first place in the company of Keller Norland, one of the United States’ leading junior competitors.

Despite their best efforts the leading duo were overhauled by the main pack within the first lap. The next three laps of the 20-kilometre bike course featured multiple breakaway attempts but the group of 15 riders were clearly too strong for any rider to get away.

With the stop-start nature of a lead pack chasing down attempted breakaways, those chasing were able to make ground but were still adrift when the lead pack entered the second transition.

Pilgrim entered that phase as part of the lead group and went out hard on the 5k run leg. A short, steep hill on both laps resulted in a number of runners from the chasing pack catching athletes at the head of the field.

Pilgrim finished the run in 18min 10sec, a solid time in an event packed with the best junior triathletes from the North and South American regions.

Pilgrim will now move to the highly competitive Under-23 age group races and progress to racing over Olympic and sprint distances.

“I felt good in the race and was pleased with how things are starting to come together,” Pilgrim said.

He will be aiming to build on that promising performance when he returns to Bermuda to compete in the Carifta Triathlon Championships, scheduled to be held at Clearwater Beach on November 12 and 13.