A contingent of 13 Bermuda athletes travelled to Virginia last weekend to compete in the 2026 East Coast Triathlon Festival.

The Bermuda athletes took on some of the best competitors in the United States across a number of age groups, with many of the island’s representatives performing with credit to finish in the top 20 and top half of their respective fields.

Dylan Eiselt and Lucas Bule took part in the Draft Junior Legal Elite Male race, which featured a 750-metre swim, 20km bike ride and 5km run for triathletes aged 16 to 19.

Eiselt continued to underline his potential, finishing seventeenth of the 74 starters in an attritional race which featured 22 competitors failing to finish. Eiselt, at 16 one of the youngest in the field, stopped the clock in a personal-best time of 57min 40.50sec with only two triathletes the same age finishing ahead of him. Bule, also 16, finished 41st in 1:02:44.14.

After the race, Eiselt took to social media to reflect on his performance.

“This was my third sprint distance triathlon this year with a massive PB,” Eiselt said.

“Thanks to Synergy In Sport for getting me ready for all my races and massive thanks to the Live Red Foundation for making this race possible.”

Madison Schindel was the sole Bermuda representative in the Junior Draft Legal female race and she completed the course in 1:12:48 to finish 57th in a field of 76 competitors.

There were mixed emotions for the Bermuda cohort In the Youth Elite Female category for athletes aged 13 to 15.

Racing over a 375m swim, 10km bike and 2.5km run, Leclerc completed the course in 35:58 to place fourteenth of the 30 finishers. However, there was disappointment for her team-mates Zara Bule and Riana Robinson, who were both disqualified — the nature of their infringements not specified in the official results.

Jens Drea achieved the highest finishing position of any Bermuda runner in the Youth Elite Male division, coming home tenth of the 47 starters in a time of 32:18 seconds.

Ethan Smith crossed the line thirteenth in 33:04, followed closely by Jacob Leclerc in fifteenth at 33:22 and Spencer Haldeman in eighteenth at 33:40. Ronan Davidge, finished 31st in 38:01, while Rohan Roopra failed to finish.

In the Non-Draft Youth Triathlon, which features a shallow open-water swim, flat bike course and short run, Calvin Haldeman finished best of the Bermuda runners in thirteenth with a time of 17:46.

Elliott Davidge was next home for the island in twentieth at 18:39, followed by Lucas Eiselt in 22nd at 18:45.