Norte places 3rd in Ironman Subic

BANJO Norte of Cebu City Rider Omega Triathlon Team snagged third place in the Asian Elite category of the Ironman 70.3 Subic Bay Philippines on Sunday, June 2, 2019.

The Cebu-based Norte, who hails from Cagayan de Oro, clocked a total time of four hours, 52 minutes and 51 seconds good for third place in the men’s division.

August Benedicto, a many-time champion in the Ironman 70.3 Philippines race, lived up to his lofty billing with yet another victory, following a gold medal finish in the Ironman 70.3 Davao last March.

Benedicto completed the half-Ironman distance race in 4:44:03 to bag his second Ironman 70.3 Philippines crown in a span of four months.

Leonard Rondina of Go For Gold PH captured second place with a clocking of 4:50:45, while Cebu’s elite triathlete Jorry Ycong fell to fourth place with a time of 5:00:24.

Norte and Ycong were the first two to come out of the water, finishing the first phase in 28:39 and 28:06, while Benedicto was the last to finish the swim among the Asian elite with 32:08.

But the Cebu-based triathletes lost the lead in the bike segment when they clocked 2:33:44 and 2:32:10, respectively. Benedicto and Rondina clocked a blistering 2:27:06 and 2:21:33, respectively.

Norte clocked 1:47:34 in the run portion to secure a spot in the podium, but Ycong finished the run in 1:56:41 and was out of the top three after a second place finish in the Ironman 70.3 Davao.

Meanwhile, Alexandra Ganzon went uncontested in the women’s Asian Elite and took the crown after finishing the race in 5:18:14.

In the pro division, Timothy James Reed (4:04:33) topped the men’s division, Tim Van Berkel (4:08:36) came in second and Nicholas Baldwin (4:09:06) took third place.

Caroline Steffen (4:29:14) was back in her old form with a convincing triumph in the women’s class. Dimity Lee Duke (4:42:58) and Laura Wood (4:46:22) finished as her runners-up. (RSC)