Carrasco sees growth of duathlon

Triathlon Association of the Philippines secretary-general Tom Carrasco Jr. is looking forward to the growth of duathlon in the next two years with the probable inclusion of the event in the 2019 Southeast Asian Games here and the World Beach Games.

“This augurs well for duathlon as we expect more athletes to go into the sport and it is an event where we have been doing well even at the Asian level and we can expect even better at the SEA Games level,” said Carrasco after the awarding ceremonies of the National Duathlon Championship 2017 held yesterday at the Subic Bay Freeport in cooperation with long-time partner Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority.

He said by the second quarter of 2018, he sees the formation of the national duathlon team with the help of Standard Insurance, one of the major sponsors of the event.

As expected, national team members dominated their respective categories in both the standard and sprint distance races of the event also backed by the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC), the SBMA Tourism Department, Gatorade and the Asian Center for Insulation.

National champion Jarwin Banatao won in the 10K run-40K bike-5K run distance, clocking 1 hour, 57 minutes, 42 seconds.

“I had an explosive start then pulled away in the bike phase but didn’t expect I could pull if off because I came from sick bay,”said Navyman Banatao, who is also sponsored by Standard Insurance.

Joey de los Reyes came in second in 1:59.02 and John Toopia third in 2:00.19.

In the women’s side, defending champion Mirasol Abad dropped out in the first loop due to injury, paving the way for Miscelle Gilbuena, 29, from Bantayan Island, Cebu.

“I set the pace all the way. My forte is running so I expected to win because I have improved a lot in cycling,” said Gilbuena who clocked 2:20.15, almost 10 minutes ahead of Jermyn Prado, a member of the national velodrome cycling team. Prado finished in 2 :30:00 and Rowena Valdez third in 2:33:33.

The other sprint winners were 17-year-old Jelsie Sabado in girls 5K run-20K bike-2.25K run (1:06:13), Paolo Tayag in boys Sprint 1 (0:59:13), and Youth Olympic Games aspirant Joshua Ramos in Sprint 2 (1:03.29).

Complete results of the National Duathlon Championship 2017 will be released for viewing at Triathlon.org. ph and at the TRAP’s official Facebook page.