Javier, Abad rule national duathlon

MANILA, Philippines - Robeno Javier reclaimed his billing as the country’s top male duathlete while Mirasol Abad extended her reign to four years on the distaff side as they ruled the 2013 Philippine National Duathlon Championships yesterday at the Remy Field, Subic Bay Freeport. 

Javier kept pace with national triathlete John Chicano in the 10K run and 40K bike before pushing himself hard in the 5K run to submit the fastest time of one hour, 54 minutes, 48 seconds.

The event, which drew over 200 duathletes, was sponsored by the Subic Bay Mertropolitan Authority (SBMA) Tourism Department, Standard Insurance, Asian Centre for Insulation Philippines, Inc, Gatorade, David’s Salon, Fitness First, Lifestyle Subic Bay and Green Triathlon.

Former Asian duathlon champion and last year’s top ADC Filipino finisher Ryan Mendoza rallied from third place after the first run to eventually finish second in 1:55:22 while a cramping Chicano settled for the bronze medal (1:55:57).

Abad was simply awesome in her field as she led by a mile after the 10K run to anchor her 2:21:49 time. The only problem she encountered was when she missed the turnaround point in the bike but that hardly made a dent on her performance as Mary Pauline Fornea was still more than three minutes off the winning time (2:23:56). Third place went to Rowena Valdez (2:36:51).

Jeric Buhain and Cebuanos Justin Chiongbian and Shaia Ruth Uy dominated the junior sprint and mini sprint categories in the race organized by the Triathlon Association of the Philippines in cooperation with the SBMA tourism  department.

The 16-year old Buhain, meanwhile, erased bitter memories of last year’s ADC  at the same venue as he clocked an impressive 1:02:26.08 in the 5K run, 20K bike and 2.5K distance.

“I was leading (last year) when I had an infraction with my helmet in the bike transition. So my goal really is to win here,”  said Buhain, a developmental pool member, who defeated Edward Jared Macalalad (1:03:30) and Jarwyn Banatao (1:05:40).

Chiongbian retained his title in the boy’s mini sprint (40:16.06) while Uy, 14,  won her first duathlon race in 46:13.83. The good performance of the young duathletes boosted TRAP’s plan to put more young athletes in the pool next year.

“We will review the performances  of our national athletes because we plan to revamp the squad next year with emphasis on youth and discipline,” said TRAP head Tom Carrasco Jr.

Age group winners: Raven Archer (18-19), Carlo Maniebo (20-24), Christopher Iblan (25-29), Francis Carlo Serrano (30-34), Dejan Glavnik (35-39), Raul Gaerlan (40-44), Jamie Leather (45-49), Arsenio Malibiran (50-54), Josef Gueta (55-59) and Killy Kunimoto (60-over) in the male division and Humma Saeed (20-29), Josette Tanghal (30-39) and Lyka Leather (40-over), girls.