Cebu was abuzz the other week as this year’s edition of the Cobra Ironman 70.3 Philippines got underway at the Shangri-La Mactan Resort.
Australian Courtney Atkinson ruled the elite men’s division, defeating world champion favorites Pete Jacobs and Chris McCormack in what some regarded as an upset victory, while Swiss Caroline Steffen, as expected, won her second straight title on the distaff side.
“It’s a nice birthday gift to myself,†was all Atkinson, who turned 34 a few days after, on August 15, could muster immediately after the win.
On the other hand, Steffen was extremely pleased with her showing, saying, “I’m happy with my performance because I bested my time last year by four minutes.â€
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The country was represented by some of our very best in Noy Jopson and sister Joyette, Monica Torres, with youngsters Banjo Northe, Dhill Lee, Marc Altura, Dea Grabador, and Jenny Guerrero.
But it wasn’t just a race for the elite, since there were close to 200 kids entered in the Alaska Ironkids Philippines Triathlon event, which had three-time defending champion Tara Borlain in the fold, together with notables like Tahlia McCormack (Chris’ daughter), Syrah Ruty Uy, and Sofia Ildefonso (daughter of PBA star Danny).
They competed in the race, which included a 100-meter swim, three-kilometer bike, and one-kilometer run for the smaller children; while it was a 300-meter swim, 10-kilometer bike, and a two-kilometer run for the older ones.
The celebrities were also represented by Matteo Guidicelli, Erwan Heussaff, Gretchen Fullido, Kim Atienza, Senator Pia Cayetano, and Isabelle Daza.
But interestingly, there were also other side events like the one conducted by TV partner Devant. Aside from deploying over 20 units of TV, which were used at Shangri-La and other five resorts in Cebu as information board that flashed the routes for the race and schedule of activities, they gave out seven units of Devant LEDTech TV, which were auctioned off to those who attended the affair.
The growth of triathlon has been so immense that the available slots for the competition were sold out in just four days.
This is in comparison to the previous years where they had 400 in the first, 650 in the second, 1,100 in the third; and 1,700 last year, which took 40 days to fill up.
This constant rise shows that the sport is on a real upswing and we can only expect bigger and greater things for the Cobra Ironman 70.3 Philippines 2014!