Monday, August 6, 2007
Leach, Araullo win
SUBIC BAY, OLONGAPO - Australian world-ranked long distance triathlete Bevan Leach, competing in the Philippines for the very first time, had two clear goals in mind before the race.
First was to win the race, second was to break the existing course record of 4:17 set by last year's inaugural race champion Petr Vabrousek, missing in this year's field, but the 32-year old Leach failed to consider the toughness of the race course, particularly the 80K bike leg that followed the 3K open water swim leg, and felt the effect of the dreaded hills of Subic in the final 20K run leg.The Sydney native finished first but failed to break Vabrousek's record by about 5 minutes, clocking 4:21.57.
"It was a very tough and challenging course, particularly the hills of the bike leg, plus the heat and humidity, and the Hong Kong guy gave me a scare, I know the rest could not keep pace with me," said Leach, adding that his victory in the Asian continental championship will earn him enough points to jump to third place in the International Triathlon Union (ITU) rankings for long distance triathletes.
Leach also gave praise to the support from the crowd on hand to witness the race that attracted close to 150 entries, including the relay and the sprint triathlon races. Placing second in the event that was sponsored by Sunkist, Fitness First, Gatorade, SPEEDO, Asian Center for Insulation, Herbalife, David's Salon, Legenda Hotel, Alaska Slim, host venue SBMA, and media partners Philippine Star, MTV Phils., 99.5 Hit FM, Magic 89.9, Jam 88.3, Wave 89.1, and Max 103.5, was HK entry Jason Chung Shing Hsie who clocked 4:26.50 while in third place was local bet national duathlon coach Mark Candelaria in 4:32.31.
The women's side saw national triathlon champion Sandra Araullo converting a training run for the forthcoming SEA games into a winning performance with a solo victory in 5:10:34, way way ahead of runner-up Ayala Land executive Nona Torres, 5:50.35, and last year's champion Popo Remigio who negotiated the distance in 6:07.49.
"I sort of expected to win the race but I did not put pressure on myself, hindi ako nanggigil sa karera and maintained my pace, I was not thinking of my opponents but rather on my targeted time which I even bettered," said the 26-year old Araullo, silver medal winner in the 2005 SEA Games also in Subic.
Other celebrities and personalities who joined the multi-distance event were Ayala scion Fernando Zobel de Ayala, Sen. Pia Cayetano, who ran in the relay race, and Adidas managing director Joey Singian. Herbalife won the race with Cayetano and Ani de Leon.
For his part, TRAP president Tom Carrasco expressed satisfaction at the turnout in the Asian Triathlon Confederation.
Source: Tonight