BY DEAN GREENAWAY

Chris Ghiorse won the BVI Sprint Triathlon for the third time in 10 years, after winning the 10th anniversary event Sunday in 1 hour, 09 minutes and 09 sesonds. St. John's Louise DePuy-in her first event here in two years-won the women's division in 1:19.06.

"I've just been on the road back to fitness and consider myself about halfway there and I'm obviously happy that I won," said Ghiorse, who was second out of the water behind DePuy and like most of the participants used the event to begin preparations for St. Croix's International Triathlon in May. "The swim was a bit of a disappointment," Ghiorse said. "The rains made the course a touch slower today on the bike. I was actually happy with the fact that I can't really run and I did a fairly good time going out. When I saw that I had about two and a half minutes on Chris (Spencer), I just made sure I could finish in style because he has a history of running." Spencer who hasn't been training since competing in St. Croix in May, began training three weeks ago. "I haven't been doing much since and have only done a couple of one hour rides," he explained. "I held back on the bike because I was trying not to fall or get a flat. I thought I could have gotten Chris on the run but he held his own. I was particularly pleased with my run because I was able to make up some time."

For DePuy, the triathlon kick started her training. "I wanted to train this fall but never had a chance, so I consider this the beginning of training for the half Iron Man," she said. "It's a good short workout. I like the new course. It's fast and flat. I like it a lot."

Cycling Federation president David Thomas considering the weather things went well. "It was the fastest triathlon we had collectively. I think it was a great way to end the season today."

Final Results: Times reflect swim, cycle and run. Men; 1. Chris Ghiorse, (13:10/30:13/26:25) 1 hour, 09 minutes 09 seconds. 2. Chris Spencer, (14:08/32:33/24:22), 1:10.24. 3. Ray Wearmouth, (15:16/37:24/27:19), 1:19:20. 4. Kevin Lenhan, St. Thomas, (15:29/40:21/27:05), 1:22.16. 5. Laurens Blok, (17:03/42:20/29:24), 1:28.08. 6. Tim Clarke, (17:14/45:03.17/28:28), 1:30.06. 7. Andrew Steele, (15:14/43:4027:23), 1:31.23.

Women:1. Louise DePuy, St. John, (11:18/38:09/30:18), 1:19.06. 2. Susan Tucker, BVI, (14:50/39:03/30:19) 1:23.33. 3. Sarah Eades, BVI, (17:06/40:33/28:21), 1:25.21. 4. Victoria Ghirose, BVI, (15:39/49:00/29:39), 1:33:38. 5. Carol Lennahan, St. Thomas, (20:12/48:31/33:13), 1:41.17. Team: Melissa King, Andrianne Baird, Fay Hsu, St. Thomas, (17:16/41:17/27:13), 1:25.06.