Dueñas bags third place in full Ironman

Cebuano athlete John Philip Dueñas shrugged off a mechanical problem on his bike to complete his first full Ironman at third place in the men’s Asian Elite class of the Century Tuna Ironman Philippines in Subic Bay last Sunday.

The 32-year-old Dueñas nearly gave up in the bike segment when his bike chain was locked on the frame, forcing him to stop in the last 40 kilometers of the bike leg.

“I couldn’t remove the chain. I was thinking of giving up. I stopped for about five to seven minutes. Good thing a marshal came and helped me with the mechanical problem,” he said.

The runner-turned-triathlete leaned on his strongest discipline-- the run-- to recover the time he lost in the bike. He finished the grueling 3.8-kilometer swim, 180K bike and 42K run race in 10 hours, 27 minutes and 34 seconds.

Dueñas came out of the water in 1:17:24, completed the bike segment in 5:46:48 and finished the 42K run in 3:16:38.

August Benedicto claimed the men’s title in 9:48:46 while Benjamin Rana placed second in 10:13:01.

“I’m very satisfied with my performance. I’m not a full-time athlete but I managed to podium. It’s a big achievement for me,” said Dueñas, the longtime coach of Olympian Mary Joy Tabal.

Meanwhile, Maria Hodges of Rider Omega Triathlon Team topped the women’s 30-34 age group in 11:16:12. She clocked 1:08 in the swim, 6:04:29 in the bike and 3:56:36 in the run.

Eunjung Cho (11:30:40) of South Korea finished second and Manon Peters (12:12:43) was third.