Bigger prize at stake

Friday, February 10, 2012

THE 2012 Vaseline Men Xterra Off-Road Triathlon Championship Series on March 18 in Liloan,Cebu will serve as a qualifying race to the Xterra Off-Road Triathlon World Championship in Maui, Hawaii in October.

Age groupers will vie for 40 slots to the Xterra World Championships.

Have something to report? Tell us in text, photos or videos.

However, it won’t be easy for the Filipino hopefuls as triathletes from 17 countries will be coming to fight for those slots.

The Vaseline Men Xterra Weekend caps off with two triathlon events on March 18—the Xterra Lite and the Xterra Philippines Championship. The Xterra Lite involves a 500-
meter swim, 30-kilometer bike and a 5-kilometer run.

The Xterra Philippines Championship, on the other hand, involves a more grueling challenge with a 1.5K swim, 30K bike and a 10K run.

“This is a welcome development as it makes the race more challenging. I am aiming to beat my time last year,” said Loveneil Casidsid, who finished fourth in the elite division last year.

Over-all coordinator Oscar Rodriguez said that this year’s number of participants had doubled from last year’s, which had more than 100 triathletes.

“We only have a few slots left as we are closing with 300 participants because we also want to ensure the safety of our participants as well as to give them an enjoyable and quality race,” Rodriguez said.

For the trail runners, the event will also have a half-distance Xterra Lite trail run featuring the 5K, 10K and 21K events on March 17.

Rodriguez said they will be featuring the same route as last year’s, except for the mountainbike route.

“We will also be using the bike route for the trail run,” Rodriguez said.

The Xterra manages a 60-race global series, with championship events held in Saipan, New Zealand, South Africa, the Czech Republic, Italy, Austria, Brazil, Japan, Spain and Germany.

Top-ranking athletes from these national championships are invited to compete at the Xterra World Championship with athletes who qualified in the US series.

One of the famous personalities who successfully competed in the Xterra World Championship is seven-time Tour De France champion Lance Armstrong. Aside from being the preeminent triathlon event, Xterra also helps preserve and protect race venues, and provides educational opportunities for at-risk youth. (ISL/ With PR)