Dueñas beats Macasieb in Dipolog triathlon

IN A few short months, John Philip Dueñas has built himself up into one of Cebu’s strongest triathletes. This time, he cemented this after defeating RP’s top triathlete Arland Macasieb in the Dipolog Centennial Triathlon yesterday in Dipolog.

Dueñas, a former runner who transitioned to triathlon in the past year, banked on his original sport, running, to save him in this race.

Dueñas was trailing the entire race until the run discipline. Macasieb was running ahead of him and Dueñas only caught up and took the lead in the last kilometer.

The title could have gone to Dueñas at that moment but instead of going to the finish line, Dueñas followed another route—the one going to the transition point, to give the advantage back to Macasieb.

Dueñas figured out the mistake and went back to the route and as fast as his legs could carry him, sprinted to the finish line to win by a millisecond. Both clocked in with an official time of 2 hours, 09:14 minutes.

“My training really paid off. This is a good race for me and not just because I won but because my bike and swim times also improved. But there is still a huge need for more improvement,” said Dueñas.

This is the third time the two raced against each other. In Tabuelan last year, Macasieb defeated Dueñas when the latter suffered a flat tire. In last year’s Ironman, it was Dueñas who pulled off a better finish because it was Macasieb who suffered a flat tire.