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Thursday, March 28, 2024

Hong Kong takes men’s title; China tops women’s side

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Even before the start of the men’s and women’s elite race in the 26th edition of the ITU-ASTC Subic Bay International Triathlon, triathlon President Tom Carrasco said Hong Kong had the best chance against the mighty Japanese contingent and the HK entries served notice of its intention by dominating the sprint events last Saturday.

And Oscar Coggins, a product of HK’s junior triathlon developmental program, proved Carrasco right by upending the Japanese entries in the men’s side with a solo finish, clocking 1:49.20 for the 1.5K swim-40K bike-10K run distance race even as the Japanese took the next five slots.

“I was a bit worried because I was sick a couple of days ago and I cannot be happier with this win. I took the lead in the 6K mark of the run leg and I pushed it to the end,” said Coggins whose familiarity with hot weather conditions paid off after training in Australia the past two months.

Asian Games champion and top seed Jumpei Furuya finished 10 seconds behind at 1:49.30 followed by compatriots Takumi Hojo, in third , 1:49.45, Shiruba Taniguchi, 1:50.11, and rounding out the top 5  finishers in the men’s side, Yuichi Hosoda who clocked 1:50.36.

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On the local side, with the event serving as a qualifying race for the slots in the SEA Games later this year, teenage runner Andrew Remolino, 19, stunned his older opponents and was never  threatened  at all after he took the lead in the swim leg en route to a 17th place finish in 1:54.49, the very first time he  has completed a race under two hours.

“Target ko sana makapasok sa Top 10 pero ang lalakas ng mga kalaban. Sana mapasama ako sa SEA Games pero ‘di ako mag kampante, marami kalaban na malalakas  dito sa atin, “ said Remolino whose father Andoy serves as his coach.

Japan ended up zero in the gold medal in the women’s side, too, as defending champion Mengying Zhong kept up with the lead pack  in the swim and bike legs then made her move in the run leg en route to a solo finish in 2:04.17.

As in the men’s side, two Japanese entries finished 2nd and 3rd to Zhong. 

Aoi Kuramor-to, who conceded that Zhong was too fast in the run leg, placed second in 2:04.41 while Yurie Kato took third place in 2:05.32.

Rounding out the Top 5 in the distaff side were HK bet Yan Yin Hilda Choi in 2:05.37, and Macau’s Long Hoi, 2:05.57.

Fil-Am Kim Kilgroe practically sewed up her slot in the SEA Games team by finishing 12th in 2:10.10, best among the local females while teammate Claire Adorna submitted a finishing time of 2:13.01, good for 15th place in the women’s elite group.

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