Barbados: Barbados won the 2024 CARIFTA triathlon and Aquathlon which took place on the Mighty Grynner highway over the weekend.
The Barbadian athletes joined fellow athletes from Aruba, Bahamas, Bermuda, , Grenada, Guadeloupe, Jamaica, Martinique, Puerto Rico, and Trinidad and Tobago to defend the title they won for the past two years.
At the end of the two day event, Barbados repeated as champions for the third consecutive year when they finished with 207 points ahead of Bermuda, who ended with 180 points and Trinidad and Tobago who was third with 58 points.
While the local team collectively performed well, some team members stood out a little more than others. In the boys’ 11-12 age group, Yele Renwick-Williams won the Triathlon and Aquathlon events to claim two gold medals while Liam Beckles won one silver medal in the triathlon.
In the girls’ equivalent, Tahira Fraser won one gold medal from her role in the mixed relay and she was 4th in the triathlon in her division.
In the boys’ 13-15 age group Zindzelle Renwick Williams collected one gold medal from the mixed relay. Over on the girls’ side in this division Laila McInytre was second in the triathlon, she won the Aquathlon and she put in an amazing performance to get to the finishing line first in the mixed relay which gave her a second gold medal.
After the first leg on her relay team when Armstrong handed over to teammate Fraser in first place, they slipped into fourth place and Renwick-Williams managed to hand over to McIntrye n third spot. The petite young lady gave it her all to bring the team home in first position. McIntyre had a brilliant swim followed by a fantastic ride and by the time she dismounted her bike, she powered to the finish line with a determination not to settle for anything less than first place.
Isabella Mayers was third in the Triathlon behind McIntyre and she won the silver medal in the aquathlon again behind McIntyre.
Fynn Armstrong dominated the boys’ 16-19 age group winning both the triathlon and aquathlon and he was the lead off in the mixed relay which also won gold. Luke McIntyre won a silver medal in the aquathlon and he was fourth in the triathlon while on the girls’ side, Isis Gaskin won gold in the triathlon and the aquathlon.
Swimming in their final CARIFTA Championship, in the 20-21 age group, Zahra Gaskin won gold in both the triathlon and aquathlon events while Chara Hinds secured one silver medal in the aquathlon.
