There were 163 finishers in the I-Tri empowerment program’s 16th youth triathlon Saturday at Long Beach in Noyac — 129 of them being I-Tri members.
A 14-year-old, Esteban Quintero, of the Lightning Warriors club in Port Jefferson, turned in the day’s best time, covering the 300-yard swim, 6-mile bike, and 1.5-mile run course in 30 minutes and 45.38 seconds. The 13-and-over division’s top five was rounded out by Catherine Bailey (32:19.27), Emma Leary (34:06.61), Leah Nowakowski (34:41.94), and Vanessa Rizzo (37:16.20).
“It was a perfect day for it,” said Jenn Fowkes, “with calm water and cloudy skies so that the participants didn’t get too hot. . . . Families rooting on their children were stretched out for a quarter-mile along the beach during the swim.”
Samanthy Perry, 12, topped the 12-year-old competitors, with a time of 34:00.01. John Bailey won among the 11-and-under entrants in 35:13.39.
