MANILA – Franklin Yee and Merry Joy Trupa dominated the elite sprint category in the National Age Group Duathlon held at Villar City in Las Piñas on Sunday.
Yee, who hails from Bogo City, Cebu, finished the 5km run-20km bike-2.5km run race in 56 minutes and 20 seconds to keep the title he won last year with a time of 57:13.
"I'm happy I was able to defend my title," the 23-year-old fourth-year business management student of University of San Carlos said.
The silver medal went to John Patrick Ciron of Iriga City, Camarines Sur. He clocked 56.43, improving on the 57:26 time he registered in taking the bronze last year.
Maynard Pecson of Baguio City placed third with a time of 58:56.
Pecson, the second-best Filipino finisher at Ironman 70.3 in Davao two weeks ago, did not expect to finish on the podium.
"There were many strong competitors, especially the young ones," the 27-year-old Pecson, a graduating tourism management student from St. Louis University, said.
In the women's division, Trupa clocked 1:06:51 to prevail over Lady Samantha Jhunace Corpuz (1:10:12) and Dhana Victoria Lomboy (1:11:57).
"I'm glad that I won again. The goal is to keep on improving," the 23-year-old Trupa, a silver medalist at the 2025 Asia Triathlon Duathlon Championships in Bahrain, said.
She graduated from the Tarlac Agricultural University in Camiling with an agri-business degree last January.
"I can now focus on my training and competitions," Trupa said.
Trupa, Yee and Pecson will join the T100 triathlon Singapore on April 25 and 26.
Yee, Pecson, Trupa and Erika Burgos bagged the mixed relay team silver medal at the 2025 Southeast Asian Games in Thailand.
Meanwhile, Hermogenes Branzuela (57:46) beat Eric Hechanova (1:01:35) and Anxader Gomez (1:03:06) to secure the men's junior elite gold medal in the tournament supported by the Philippine Sports Commission.
The podium finishers in the women's division were Anisha Eunice Caluya (1:09:54), Candace Marie Socito (1:15:58) and Scottie Lee Awitan (1:20:20).
The National Age Group Duathlon is part of the grassroots and talent identification program of Triathlon Philippines headed by Tom Carrasco Jr. (PNA)
