Langit bags Asian aquathlon gold

MANILA, Philippines - Lea Coline Langit, a new convert to the extreme sport of triathlon, reaped the fruit of her hard work as she won a gold and a bronze medal in the 2009 Asian Aquathlon Championship-Invitational Triathlon held in Palenbang, Indonesia Saturday.

Langit, sent by the Triathlon Association of the Phliippines (TRAP) for training in Australia and Korea the past months, clocked 15:16 in the the 1K swim and 10:07 in the 2.5-k run for an aggregate 25:13 to beat Australia’s Regina Wright (26:22) and Singapore’s Li Ying (26:31) for the Asian title.

Two aquathletes from Russia – Anastacsia Polyanskaya and Lubou Ivanovskaya – submitted the two best time in the race at 25:17 and 25:20 but their efforts were not counted since Russia is not part of the Asian continent.

The 22-year old La Salle sports management graduate who went into full-time into endurance sport this year, gave a good account of herself against the two Russians as she led the first two loops in the swim leg.

She came out of the swim along with Ivanovskaya and trailed Polyanskaya by just two seconds heading into the run. But the Russians made use of their long limbs to spoil the challenge of Langit.

Langit, who was supported by Philippine Sports Commission and Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA), completed a fruitful stint in the tournament organized by the Indonesia Triathlon Association as she bagged the bronze in the international triathlon event held Sunday.

A bronze medal winner in the 25th Dijon Triathlon held in France last July, Langit negotiated the 1.5K swim, 40K bike and 10K run in 2:00:15, two minutes behind the two Russian opponents for the first and second placings.

Langit did most of the work in the bike leg and felt throwing up during the run leg, barely having enough time to recover from the aquathlon event.

But she held her ground against the rest of the field to make it to another podium finish.

The strong performance by Langit came after she finished fourth in the 70.3 Putra Jaya, Malaysia Oct. 4 with her time of 4:46:00. Next stop for Langit is the Asian Duathlon Championship slated Nov. 15 at Subic Bay.

Langit along with Monica Torres and Kim Mangrobang will banner the women’s team campaign in the ADC against a host of foreign participants from at least 15 countries.