An exciting first day of racing at the Clermont Draft Legal event in Florida on Saturday featured Bermuda’s athletes performing with distinction.

First up was the Under-25 Elite Development race for the 16 to 26 age group, which contained a high-class field full of US college and other top junior athletes aiming for their pro licence.

Dylan Eiselt and Lucas Bule acquitted themselves well, with a time of 1hr 1min 41sec placing Eiselt 34th of 84 in the sprint distance race. The 15-year-old showed strength on his favourite bike leg by making up around 30 places. Bule finished 65th in 1:06:19 as he continues to grow in confidence and improve rapidly

In the women’s NCAA and Age Group super sprint race, Madison Schindel warmed up for her under-25 elite development race on Sunday by finishing 26th of 51 starters. This came after she raced at the World Triathlon Development Regional Cup Bridgetown, which was held in Barbados two weeks ago.

In the youth girls 12 to 15, Riana Robinson continued her upward trajectory in the sport by finishing sixth, an excellent result which the Bermuda Triathlon Association hopes the 14-year-old can build on in the second race on Sunday.

Despite being unwell leading up to the race, Iris Duda showed her inner strength to finish a fabulous seventh.

Isla Cooze finished tenth after a fine swim and a very solid bike, staying with a strong pack on the bike course. Zara Bule finished eleventh, largely due a mishap during the bike, which cost her some places.

Madeleine Friend, at 12, one of the youngest in the field racing against some of the best 15-year-olds in the US and Caribbean, showed her potential coming in 20th of 27.

In the youth boys race, Ethan Smith built on his strong swim to finish tenth. Spencer Haldeman, who came out of the water behind Smith, could not quite close the gap and settled for eleventh position.

In his first time racing at Clermont, Maxwell Williams finished 24th in a competitive field. Ronan Davidge came in 26th, an improvement on his first experience last year.

Alec Shepherd, who is coaching the team of 12 triathletes alongside Alex Waldauer, was pleased with the way the young athletes performed on the first day.

“All in all, the athletes did themselves proud and certainly flew the flag with aplomb for Bermuda,” Shepherd said.