BAD weather in Subic Bay did not stop Cebuano national team member Andrew Kim Remolino from pulling off a second-place finish in the men’s elite of the 2018 Subic Bay ASTC Triathlon Southeast Championships in the Subic Bay Freeport Zone yesterday.
Choppy waters in Subic forced organizers to the change the sprint triathlon race to a duathlon competition, covering a 2.5K first run, 20-kilometer bike and 5K second run.
The 18-year-old Remolino of Go For Gold-Talisay Luigi Triathlon Group completed the race in 55 minutes and 38 seconds to finish second to Southeast Asian Games (Sea) Games silver medalist John Chicano, who clocked 54:54.
John Jauhari of Indonesia finished third in 55:54, Singapore’s Sheng Cher Bryce Chong placed fourth with 55:56, and Mark Hosana clocked 56:06 to round up the men’s elite Top 5.
“There was a warning already during a race briefing last Saturday that it might be a duathlon because of the choppy waters. At first we were worried and felt bad because swimming is the strongest discipline for Kim. But we can’t do anything about it since it’s a race,” said TLTG coach Roland Remolino, who’s the father of Andrew Kim.
The older Remolino added that he was happy that his son delivered despite the change and the windy weather in Subic.
Remolino, an incoming Grade 12 student at Paref Springdale School, completed the 2.5K run 1 in 9:02, finished the 20K bike segment in 28:13 and timed 17:36 in the run 2 portion.
One of the race favorites, the Sea Games two-time gold medalist Nikko Huelgas finished in eighth place with a time of 57:42.
The other athletes from Cebu in the Southeast Championships men’s elite were Jorry Ycong and Renz Wynn Corbin who finished at ninth and 11th place with times of 57:50 and 58:38, respectively.
Cebuano CJ Lipura shone in the age group class as he placed second in the men’s 16 to 19 division.
Junior triathlete Karen Manayon of Rider Omega Tri Team finished in seventh place in the girls’ division with an unofficial time of 1:05:00 in the ASTC Asian Youth Olympic Games Qualifiers. The official results, however, were not yet posted as of press time. (RSC)