Dylan Eiselt and Jackson Langley lived up to expectations to win the open division at the Aon Mixed Team Relay National Championship at Clearwater Beach on Sunday.

Eiselt gave Jackson & Dylan team a great start when he came out of the water second, behind his coach Alex Waldauer, who was competing in the mixed category. The 15-year-old kept the pressure on the bike leg and went into the run ahead, handing over the chip to his partner after 25:26.

Jackson preserved the pair’s stranglehold by perfectly executing his swim, bike and run. The 16-year-old completed his leg in an equally fast time of 25:29, with their overall time 51min 16.39 sec

Gianluca Bortoli and Jasper Lau secured second position in 54:08, while Alex Pilgrim’s combination with Oliver Brunnock finished third in 55:07.

Eiselt, who won two medals at the Carifta Triathlon and Aquathlon Championships in Trinidad & Tobago in August, was delighted that his partner was able to get the job done.

“It was a really good race and Jackson did well to finish it off,” Eiselt told The Royal Gazette.

“After Carifta I’ve been having a lot more training and to do a race after a hard week of training made it a lot tougher.

“I had a really good swim and bike ride. My run was OK, I could have done a lot better but it feels really good to have gotten the gap to help Jackson cross the line first.

“My coach was ahead of me in the swim, I caught him on the bike and then I dropped him at the end.

“I came out of the swim in a good position and this gave me a great opportunity to close the gap. We managed to drop a lot of time on the bike and the run.”

Langley, the winner of the 1,500 metres at the Open Water Bermuda National Championships at the same venue a week earlier, spoke of how he battled against some health issues after representing the island at Carifta.

“I’ve been a bit under the weather and I’ve had to overcome a few things after Carifta,” he said.

“Overall it felt good and I’m happy to walk away with the win. In the mixed relay I love to go second because there’s a bit of added pressure trying to maintain the lead, but I think I thrive under pressure.

“Even though we were ahead, I still tried to put my head down and just do the best I could.

“I had a decent swim in choppy conditions as the wind was coming up really straight. The bike was hard because it was pretty windy but I focused on opening that gap.

“On the run, Gianluca Bortoli really motivated me on that last lap, otherwise I would have just cracked.”

The winning team had initially stopped the clock in 50: 56, but got handed a 20-second penalty by the race organisers for two transgressions.

“I was penalised for my team-mate coming across the line with me,” Langley said.

“The other penalty was for touching my bike when I was touching my helmet. Obviously it’s frustrating, but the thing about triathlon is that it’s such a technical sport and you’re bound to make mistakes.

“I’m happy that they pointed it out to me. I would rather make these mistakes on a local stage where I have a bit of a gap, instead of when I go for a massive international competition.”

Having fallen behind in the swim and bike, Lau fought hard to gain some ground in the 2km run before handing over to Bortoli.

“It was a really nice competitive race,” the 15-year-old said.

“In the swim it was hard to tell where I was. The bike was decent, I wasn’t able to catch up to third place, but I was able to catch them to secure a good spot for my team-mate.”

The 16-year-old Bortoli had to overcome losing some ground when he veered off course for the swim leg.

“I went the wrong way in the swim, which was really annoying,” he said.

“I went around the wrong buoy but it wasn’t the end of the world. My bike was solid and I had an amazing run.”

Isla Cooze and Sofia Leclerc took the honours in the all female 11+ in a time of 1hr 3min 57sec. Christine Dailey and Kristen Robinson were second in 1:04:56 with third position secured by Colette Durkin and Evelyn Fahy, who had a combined time of 1:04:59.

Dailey, who is pregnant, stated that she entered the race to maintain her fitness.

“It was just a fun event for my partner and I,” the island’s top female runner said.

“I’m 18 weeks pregnant so I’m not here trying to break records, I’m just trying to stay fit. I’m trying to be super careful and on a short course it was hard with all the turns, but my run was solid as that’s my favourite part.”

Maddie Durkin and Michael Evans took the senior corporate title. Evans was engaged in an interesting battle with his wife Georgia, who won the mixed senior team with Waldauer.

Georgia, in her first race in Bermuda since relocating to the island three years ago from Britain, was given a head start by Waldauer.

“I really had a great time and I’ll definitely be doing another one,” Georgia said.

“I kept the position Alex gave me out of the water, but in transition and on the bike a lot of people went past me.”

Michael brought out his competitive spirit and overtook his wife on the second lap of the bike.

“It was a great race, the level was brilliant and the youngsters were so good,” he said.

“It was good to try and chase my wife down instead of her chasing me down, which would have been scary. On the first lap I could see how far ahead she was, and then I was able to chase her down on the second one.”

Waldauer was excited at getting a chance to take on Eiselt and take a closer look at what they are working on.

“I’m quite happy that I was able to race with Dylan because you don’t often get to race against the children you coach,” he said.

“It was great to race with him and see what he looks like while he’s racing. I was definitely going all out against him, I was going as hard as I could and that was all I had.”

Isaac Wookey and Kian Wookey bagged the senior family honour. They were followed by Andrew Davis and Carter Davis, while father and son, Holger and Lukas Eiselt were the second runners-up.

In the 7-10 age group, Niklas Bock and Nolan Horrobin were the first all-boys team across the line in 35min 35.84sec. They were followed by Heath Kemp and Josh Cann, with the pairing of Austen Carr and Calvin Haldeman completing the podium positions.

Bethany Davidge and Izzy Stevens triumphed in the girls competition, beating Holly Cook and Julia Cunningham. Indigo Kemp and Lexie Cunningham finished third.

Chloe Durkin and Elliott Davidge were the only pair competing in the mixed junior team category.