The best sporting story of the weekend belongs to triathlete Vincent Légère. After 15 years of traveling here and there in Canada, the United States and Mexico, the Dieppois can finally bring home an international gold medal.
On Sunday, not without having suffered to get there, the 50-year-old gentleman signed his first victory on the world stage in an age group, by completing the Cozumel Ironman in 9 hours, 58 minutes and 26 seconds.
Légère was ahead of another Canadian, Juan Carlos Colin Fiche, with a priority of 68 seconds (9h59:34).
It was obviously with great emotion that Légère crossed the finish line of the event on this Mexican island in the Caribbean Sea famous for scuba diving.
“This victory does a lot of good,” he says. It’s comparable to the feeling of finishing your first Ironman. It’s a lot of emotions. I’m so happy.”
“I became very emotional when after crossing the finish line, my wife Jamie came to tell me that I had won my age group (50 to 54). Jamie is always there for me and I am very lucky to have him. Without her encouraging me daily, I wouldn’t be able to live my dream.”
Légère also had a thought for her coach Cam MacKinnon.
“Cam prepared me well, both mentally and physically, for this day. He toughened me up during training over the last few months and that played a big role in this victory,” he confides.
Vincent Légère, however, did not have it easy due to heatstroke during the 180 km bike ride.
“I performed very well in the swim and came out of the water in eighth place. Then, on the bike, I felt very strong for the first 120 km. When I got there, I was even in second position. But then I started to feel weak for the last 60 km. I couldn’t cool my body down and felt really bad. Despite everything, I managed to finish the 180.2 km cycle in fourth place. However, I couldn’t wait for it to end so I could move on to the marathon,” reveals Légère, who was still not at the end of her troubles.
During the first kilometers on his running sneakers, Légère was so hot that he doubted he would be able to complete the 42.2 km.
“I really thought I wouldn’t be able to finish the marathon,” he said. I felt very bad for the first seven kilometers. But once I managed to bring my body temperature down, I started to feel significantly better.”
“Jamie would then tell me the speed of the guys running in my age group and how far away they were from me. After 14 km, there was only one guy (Fiche) who could beat me and I knew it was going to be very close,” he says.
Finally, Légère finished the marathon in 3h31:35, almost 17 minutes behind Fiche (3h14:40) who nevertheless gave everything to try to catch up with the Acadian. The Argentinian Ronan Pavoni, although winner of the swimming event and second in the bike, could not do better than a time of 4h06min56 in the marathon and therefore finished on the third step of the podium in this age group thanks to a cumulative time of 10:21:32.
In addition to her time of 3:31:35 in the marathon, Légère posted times of 1:02:21 in the 3.8 km swim and 5:16:12 on the bike.
In short… Vincent Légère will take part in the World Championships in Nice, France, which will take place in September. This will be the first time that he will compete on the lands of his ancestors… Légère’s first international competition dates back to 2009, when he took part in the Florida half-ironman… Three other triathletes from New Brunswick, all from Moncton, were present in Cozumel, namely Jason Grover (50-54 years old), Satish Punna (55-59 years old) and Megan Stever (35-39 years old). Grover took 23rd place in the same age group as Légère with a cumulative time of 11h45min22. Punna, for his part, completed the event in 12h28min33, good for 17th position in his age group. Finally, Stever also finished 23rd in her age group in 13h17m21…
