Last year when he competed, his goal was basically the same, but at the time, he had to settle for second place in the overall finish. <\/P><\/p>\n
This year, however, Dale was more focused and more determined. <\/P><\/p>\n
And his determination paid off. Dale was the first individual competitor to cross the finish line. <\/P><\/p>\n
“I was determined to take it this year,” said Hill, following his win on Saturday morning at Taino Beach. <\/P><\/p>\n
“The race was somewhat difficult because of the heat. But I got used to it quickly. But I’m glad that it’s over.” <\/P><\/p>\n
In spite of the heat, Hill said that the conditions for the swim and the other races were suitable. <\/P><\/p>\n
Asked which event of the triathlon was toughest for him, Hill admitted that the swim was the roughest. <\/P><\/p>\n
“That’s because I can’t swim,” said the Abaco native. <\/P><\/p>\n
“I’m like most Bahamians, surrounded by water and can’t swim.” <\/P><\/p>\n
But Hill made up for his swimming handicaps, by going all out in the cycling and run to finish in first place overall. <\/P><\/p>\n
Hill is no stranger to triathalons, having done a number of them while in high school. <\/P><\/p>\n
He’s also no stranger to the Conchman, having competed in the local event for more than five years. <\/P><\/p>\n
Training for this year’s Conchman was a challenge for Hill. <\/P><\/p>\n
First he suffered from an injury, which put his training back, then with the passing of two tropical storms and one hurricane through the island of Abaco, training came to a virtual standstill. <\/P><\/p>\n
“For the past couple of weeks I haven’t been able to do any swimming, because the water has been so messed up,” said Hill. <\/P><\/p>\n
“Also, with almost constant rain, I haven’t been able to do that much biking, but this was like the last triathalon for the season, so I knew I had to compete.” <\/P><\/p>\n
But Dale was determined to make it to this year’s Conchman, and even more determined to win it. <\/P><\/p>\n
With David and Andrew Bell out of this year’s race, it left the door wide open for others to step up into the winner’s circle. <\/P><\/p>\n
Hill was one of those who took up the challenge to fill that void. <\/P><\/p>\n
“I really didn’t know anyone else in the race, so I didn’t know what to expect as far as competition is concerned,” said Hill. <\/P><\/p>\n
“But I was second last year and I really wanted this race.” <\/P><\/p>\n
The Conchman was only a part of the reason why Hill and a number of other athletes from Abaco came to Grand Bahama. <\/P><\/p>\n
Hill noted that he and his crew wanted to use their time here to assist with victims of Hurricane Wilma. <\/P><\/p>\n
After the Conchman, the crew drove down to Pinder’s Point, Lewis Yard and Eight Mile Rock to see where they could have assisted those affected by the hurricane. <\/P><\/p>\n
“This trip was more than just fun or competition for us,” said Dale. <\/P><\/p>\n
“We came to see what we could do to help, where we can.”<\/P><\/p>\n
By Andrew Coakley, Freeport News Sports Editor<\/SMALL> <\/P><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Dale Hill from Abaco came to this year’s Conchman Triathalon with the sole purpose of taking home the trophy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_10223285771444175_51037792744":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-248141","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-headlines"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248141","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=248141"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248141\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=248141"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=248141"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bahamasb2b.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=248141"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}