Visually impaired paratriathletes coming to Subic

MANILA, Philippines - A trio of visually impaired paratriathletes will be leading a crack Japanese team seeing action against challengers from Korea, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Singapore and the Philippines in the Paratriathlon Asian Championships, one of the events of the long-running K-Swiss ITU Subic Bay International Triathlon (SUBIT) set April 26 at the Subic BayFreeport.

Japan is fielding visually impaired Ryu Nakazawa, Toshihiro Shirae and Atsuko Yamada in the sprint distance paratriathlon competition (750-meter swim, 20K bike and 5K run) together with teammates Shingo Kuboyama, Noboyulki Domon, Toshio Furuhata and Miho Hamada.

Others competing for the paratriathlon titles are Korean Jun Ha Lee and Filipinos  Godfrey Taberna, 2013 SUBITparatriathlon gold medallist Andy Avellana  and 2013 silver medallist Sixto Ducay.

International Triathlon Union (ITU) classifiers Marguerite Christophers and Peter Steggall will be on hand to determine the paratriathletes’categories on April 24 and 25.

The 2014 Asian Paratriathlon Championships is part of the Asian Triathlon Confederation (ASTC) and Triathlon Association of the Philippines’ (TRAP) efforts to promote paratriathlon with participation in the 2016 Paralympics in mind. 

As of April 19, close to 1,000 participants have signed up for the K-Swiss ITU SUBIT.

Among them are 20 clubs vying for the inter-club title, and over 600 age-group triathletes in the Olympic distance aiming for the national age-group championship titles and the right to represent the country in the 2014 World Age-Group Championships in Canada. 

The event, the longest-running Olympic distance international triathlon in Asia, is sponsored by K-Swiss, Century Tuna, Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) Tourism Department and Philippine Sports Commission (PSC).

It is supported by Harbor Point, Ayala Malls, Canon, Traveler’s Hotel, Blackbeard’s Seafood Island, Asian Center for Insulation Philippines (ACIP), Gatorade, Speedo, Standard Insurance and Green Triathlon.