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A trio of Bermuda triathletes made it big in Texas, with some amazing results in the Lone Star Half Ironman.

Dee Thomson finished second in the women's event, setting a personal best for the grueling swim/run/bike course through the bayous and backroads of Galveston.

Her husband Garth Thomson won the 40-45 age group, finishing 24th overall while their brother-in-law Riaan Naude was tenth overall in a field of more than 600 triathletes.

"That's the best I've ever done in an overseas race," said Dee Thomson, who beat one of the 'elite' competitors to take second overall.

"I'd really worked on the swim and the run but it was still my cycling that ended up being the strongest," said the physiotherapist who clocked the best bike split in the field.

"It felt good getting off the bike and knowing I would still get a good time even if I had a bad run.

"It was a great race overall and I think we all represented Bermuda well."

Naude, who was 10th overall with a time of 4:22:21.20, in a field that included five professionals said that, unlike the Thomsons who are natural cyclists, he had to put a lot more work in on the bike in training to improve his time.

"It was a personal best for me in a half ironman. I've been doing a lot of work on the bike using a power metre, which has enabled me to train a lot more scientifically.

"In this type of race because you spend about half the time on the bike so it is key to the race. I also did a lot of work on endurance, doing some long runs to make sure I had the legs for the half-marathon after pushing it on the bike."

Garth Thomson, Bermuda's top cyclist, had no trouble with the bike, recording the second fastest split in the race.

But he admits he had to learn to swim, almost from scratch, when he started training for triathlons a few years ago.

"At that time 25m was a challenge. I grew up in Manitoba so I'm a prairie boy through and through."

Thomson spent the winter working on his swimming at the Saltus pool and on long road runs with his wife, who is also his training partner.

"We got in the ocean occasionally whenever there was not 20 knots and a north wind, which wasn't that often. Most of our training was done in the pool.

"This was the first half ironman I've done where I really focused on my swim and my run. I really didn't focus on the bike at all but it was still my best part of the race."[[In-content Ad]]

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