7th Annual Abaco Triathelon Won By Bahamian By Isobel Sherman

7th Annual Abaco Triathelon Won By Bahamian
By Isobel Sherman

The Seventh Annual Great Abaco Triathlon, one of an annual series of events, took place on a hot, humid Saturday, the 2nd of September. This was Abaco's largest Triathlon ever with over 150 triathletes coming to Abaco to participate. The opening ceremony was held on the shore at Abaco Beach Resort with Mr. Robert Sweeting, MP for South Abaco, officially opening the event. It was then down to business with triathletes entering the water for the half-mile swim followed by a 15-mile bike ride and a three-kilometer run. Triathletes came from as far as California and Nantucket, Massachusetts, for this event. For many persons participating, this was their first time on Abaco.

Otto Bell of Freeport and Marty Gaal from Orlando were out of the water first and from then on the duel was on. For Bahamian Dave "Otto" Bell, who has participated in every Great Abaco Triathlon as well as other triathlons, he was determined to win.

Otto came in first after the bike and when the running was over he was in first place with an unofficial time of 1 hour 6 minutes. Finally, he had won the Great Abaco Triathlon. His prize was $1000. Second place was Marty Gaal of Orlando, Florida, in 3rd place was Dave Picianno of Claremont, Florida, and in 4th place was the great triathlete Scott Tingley of Belmont, California.

On the ladies' side Linda Neary won for the sixth straight year and now has a winning streak of five straight wins in this year's Triathlon series. In second place for the ladies was 13-year-old Ashley Carusone of High Springs, Florida. Besides Bahamian Otto Bell participating, other Bahamians in the event included several from Nassau and Freeport as well as Dale Hill, Nick Watson and Curtis Pek, all from Marsh Harbour. Several teams were made up of local Abaco participants.

This series of triathlons is organized by Exclusive Sports Marketing. According to Steve Tebon, President of Exclusive Sports Marketing, this event will continue to grow until there are 200-250 triathletes participating in the Labour Day weekend Great Abaco Triathlon. The publicity that Abaco receives in the United States through this event is quite extensive.