SALISBURY — The first two of six scheduled summer Vermont Sun Triathlons were held on Saturday at Branbury State Park in Salisbury in cool, overcast conditions that included light rain during the bicycle racing.
One was the sprint Vermont Sun Triathlon consisting of a 600-yard swim, 14-mile bike ride and 3.1-mile run. Zack Silver of Short Hills, N.J., won the men’s race in 1:07:42, while South Burlington’s Michelle Rosowsky claimed the women’s top spot in 1:16:00.
The Olympic distance Lake Dunmore Triathlon featured a 1,600-yard swim, 28-mile bike-ride and 6.2-mile run. The winners, both from Burlington, were Jessica Ball for the women in 2:33:32 and Jesse Gourevitch in 2:31:4 for the men. New Haven’s Kyle Flack took third in the men’s division.
The 26-year-old-Olympic men’s race champion, Gourevitch, finished only 29th in the Lake Dunmore Triathlon in August 2017, but improved his overall time by an amazing 20 minutes. This past Saturday, he was first out of the water in 24:01. Jeff Schumann of Salisbury, 61, followed him a minute later. Schumann was one of three men who passed Gourevitch on the 28-mile bike ride.
James Harnish of Essex Junction, 46, used the second-fastest bike time (1:15:29) to take the lead into the run. Schumann was second and Flack, having used the day’s best bike time (1:15:13) moved into third. Gourevitch had the fastest run (43:25) to overtake all three. Harnish held onto second (2:32:42) with Flack taking third (2:32:58) and Schumann fourth in 2:36:20.
Gourevitch said hard work paid off.
“I’ve only been racing triathlons for a few years. I put in a lot of training last fall and this spring. I really didn’t think I was going to get a win this soon. I am really happy,” he said.
Two other local 61-year-old men had strong races. Middlebury’s Steve Hare was the seventh man across the finish line and earned second in his age group in 2:39:35, and Doug Robinson of Brandon claimed third in the age group with a 3:00:27 finish.
In the Olympic race, Ball was the second woman to finish the swim, 40 seconds off the lead. Donna Smyers, 61, from Adamant trailed Ball by 1:20 and virtually tied her for the fastest ride of the day to stay there. Ball posted the best run of the day (44:23) and stretched her lead as Smyers settled for second place in 2:38:48.  
In the women’s sprint triathlon Rosowsky finished the swim in third place, 15 seconds off the lead. Wendy Mehaffey of Essex Junction outrode Rosowsky by 1:28, the second-fastest bike of the day (41:01), to get to within 45 seconds of the lead. But Rosowsky added 20 seconds to her lead in the transition to the run where to two had almost identical run times of 23:02 and 23:06. Mehaffey’s second place time was 1:17:17.
Three Bristol women did well in the sprint. Winning their age groups were 39-year-old Anne Rossier (35-39) in 1:23:36 and Andrea Halnon (65-69 in 1:59:21), while Jennifer Hulbert was fifth in the 40-44 group in 1:34:47. Sharon O’Daniel of Vergennes took fourth at 40-44 in 1:32:00.
In the men’s sprint triathlon Silver was never challenged. He had the fastest swim (8:40) and bike (38:06) to hold a commanding four-minute lead going into the run. Second-place finisher Gabriel Robles of West Hartford, Conn., out-ran Silver with the fastest run (19:13) to finish in 1:11:20.
The races were supported by local businesses and benefit the Middlebury Union Middle School cross county team, athletes from which staffed the runs’ aid stations, as well as other local youth sports groups.
The next Vermont Sun Triathlon is Sunday, July 15. On that date the series brings back the Branbury Classic, which features a 1.5-mile canoe-, kayak- or stand-up paddleboard-race followed by a 14-mile-bike ride and 3.1-mile run. Both events are open to teams of two or three. Complete results and more information on how to enter or assist running these races is available at vermontsun.com or 388-3060.