Subic hosts nat’l duathlon in December

MANILA, Philippines - Berths in the Team Philippines are at stake in the National Duathlon Championships 2013 firing off at 6 a.m.,  Dec. 1 at the Subic Bay Freeport.

“We will send a strong team to 2014 Asian Duathlon Championship in Sri Lanka that is capable of bringing back the crown to the country after 10 years,” said Philippine Olympic Committee chair Tom Carrasco, who is also president of the organizing Triathlon Association of the Philippines.

Ryan Mendoza of Air Force clinched the men’s title when the country hosted the continental championship at the Clark Special Economic Zone in 2004. Mendoza followed up his feat with another gold-medal showing at duathlon’s debut in the 2007 Southeast Asian Games in Pattaya, Thailand.

World Duathlon Championship 2013 veteran Mirasol Abad and the Philippines’s top duathlete Robeno Javier banner the tough field of the race sponsored by the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) Tourism Department, Standard Insurance, Asian Centre for Insulation Philippines, Inc., Gatorade, David’s Salon, Fitness First, Lifestyle Subic Bay and Green Triathlon.

Seen to crowd out Javier are the other Phl team members who are also seasoned internationalists – Carlo Pedregosa, Jimmuel Patilan and Bigboy Robinson Javier.

In the distaff side, Mary Pauline Fornea is expected to hound Abad throughout the standard 10K run-40K bike-5K run grind.

Also all out to dish out fine performance are triathletes John Chicano, Nikko Huelgas and Justine Chiongbian with budding duathletes Joey Delos Reyes, Jeric Buhian and Baltazar Valencia.

The junior participants (16-19 years-old) and age-groupers aged 16 and above will take a stab at the sprint distance course of 5K run-20K bike-2.5K run.

A  2.5K-12K bike-2.5K run course for the youth mini-sprint category is also on tap.

Currently, entry fees are  P2,000 for standard distance and P1,500 for sprint and mini-sprint. Effective Nov. 1, rates will increase to P2,500 (standard) and P2,000 (sprint/mini).

TRAP-registered athletes can avail themselves of 10 percent discount while students and senior citizens are entitled to 20 percent discount.