World's finest face tough test in Century Tuna triathlon

SUBIC, Philippines  – The Olympic-distance Century Tuna 5i50 Triathlon Series Philippines fires off today with some of the world’s leading triathletes clashing with the country’s finest for pride and glory over a tough course at the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority here.

Alaska Milk Corp. president and CEO Fred Uytengsu, through Sunrise Events, Inc. that brought the Ironman 70.3 and Xterra Phl, said this is the first time that they are introducing this 1.5-kilometer, 40k bike and 10k run race sanctioned by the World Triathlon Corp. to local shores as well as the whole of Southeast Asia.

“Our aim with this event is to encourage even more people to adopt a healthy lifestyle and embrace multi-sport training and racing,” said Uytengsu, a tri-athlete and many-time Full Ironman finisher himself, in yesterday’s press briefing at the Subic Bay Convention Center here.

“While we recognize that people may have an Ironman or Ironman 70.3 event as a bucket list item, we also realize that you need to start somewhere and this event does exactly that. The distance is challenging for the novice triathlete and we hope to encourage many individuals to start with the distance,” he added,

Gracing the launch were Century Tuna general manager Greg Banzon, who will also participate in the one-day event, and SBMA official Raul Marcelo.

“We’ve hosted two Ad Congresses and some international sporting events but this one’s definitely the biggest,” said Marcelo.

“Century Tuna is promoting a healthy lifestyle and this is the best way to show it by supporting events like this one,” said Banzon.

The Century Tuna 5i50 Triathlon has drawn more than 600 participants, including veteran internationalists David Dellow, Ali Fitch and Matthieu O’Halloran of Alaska Team TBB, Jacqui Slack, Belinda Granger, Justin Granger, Kuttor Csaba and Ben Allen, the inaugural winner of the Xterra race held in Liloan, Cebu.

The event is being presented by Century Tuna and sponsored by Alaska Milk, Gatorade, David’s Salon, 2XU, Timex, Intercare, Oakley, SBMA and The Philippine STAR and Multisport Magazine as media partners.

The local challenge will be led by Neil Catiil, the best Filipino finisher in the 2010 Ironman 70.3 in Camsur whose campaign is being backed by LBC Solutions, Inc.

“We are very pleased to have foreign athletes like Caroline Steffen, Ali Fitch, Matt O’Halloran, Justin and Belinda Granger and David Dellow,” said Uytengsu. 

Uytengsu said he is pinning his hopes on the 10-member Alaska Team TBB that will also compete in Ironman 70.3 in Cebu this August.

“But we also want to augment this with promising young Filipino athletes that will hopefully be able to represent the country in international competitions in the near future,” said Uytengsu.

“Obviously, having a top caliber coach in Brett Sutton helps make this goal a reality,” he added.

For updates, you may visit its website at www.5i50philippines.com.