Six Cebuanos to compete in Asia-Pacific Ironman

CEBU, Philippines - Six Cebuano triathletes under Team Reborn will dare to conquer the challenge as they compete in the Ironman Asia-Pacific Championships on March 23 in Melbourne, Australia.

The six elite local triathletes are Extra World Championships finisher Jose Merdino Lim, Meyrick Jacalan, Dr. Albert Solis, Janejane Ong, Gianluca Guidecelli and Andrew Ong.

There were originally 13 of them who planned to join the event, but after several sessions, half of the aspirants decided to let go of the opportunity.

Jacalan first decided not to join the race, but with strong family support, he regained strength and motivation to get back into training and asked organizers to reconsider his entry.

 â€œI already got my refund actually. But after giving it another thought, I decided to make it a try and test my limits,” said Jacalan in a press conference yesterday at the Canvas in Ayala Center-Cebu.

The Cebuanos will be part of the biggest Philippine delegation ever-assembled with 73 total spread in different age-categories.  They are not keeping any promise or aim for a podium finish, but the Cebuanos are happy just to represent the country in the race.

The full Ironman distance covers 3.8 kilometers in swim, 180-km bike and a 42.2-km run.

Lim is considered as the most experienced in Team Reborn having done the Xterra World Championships in Hawaii last year. “I really want to test my limit. After this one, I still don’t know what’s going to happen next. For the meantime, I just want to focus on this one,” he said.

Lim will also be joining next week’s Xterra Philippines that will be held in Liloan, Cebu.

For his part, Solis revealed that he is having a hard time in preparing as he has patience to attend to, while Guidecelli added that they want to take away pressure as their first goal is to finish the race.— (FREEMAN)