Tyler Butterfield overcame mechanical problems during the bike ride to finish thirteenth at the Ironman 70.3 North American Championships in St George, Utah.

Butterfield suffered a broken chain a third of the way through the 112-mile bike course, having exited the water after the 3.8-kilometre swim in less than 25 minutes, about 1½ minutes behind the leaders.

The Bermuda triathlete recovered to finish the ride in 2hr 18min 29sec, and a strong run of 1:17:49 brought him home in 4:03:50.

Tim Don, of England, won the race in an overall time of 3hr 51min 53sec, with Canada’s Brent McMahon second and Andreas Raelert of Germany third.

Butterfield will be hoping for better luck in his next race, the Latin American Championships in Brazil on May 31, as he looks to accumulate points for the Ironman World Championships in Hawaii in October.

Meanwhile, Bermuda’s Tyler Smith and Erica Hawley took on the best junior triathletes in the region at the Americas Junior Elite Triathlon Championships in Monterrey, Mexico.

Smith finished fifteenth after completing the 750-metre swim, 20km bike and 5km run in a time of 55:42 to qualify for the Junior Elite World Championships in Chicago in September.

His time of 16:42 in the run was a personal best in triathlon. The junior men’s race was won by Austin Hindman, of the United States, with Brazil’s Kaue Will second and Diego Acosta of Mexico third.

Hawley finishing 35th out of 56 starters in the junior women’s race in 1:07:53. The race was won by Taylor Knibb, of the US, in 59 minutes with Adriana Carreno, of Mexico, second, and Canada’s Emliy Wagner third.