WHOEVER wins the world championships this September will be invited to join the 2017 Powerman Philippines Asian Duathlon Championships.
Organizers said this after they noted that around 550 duathletes have already signed up for the meet presented by Summit Drinking Water.
Action will be held on Oct. 8 at the Clark Freeport Zone in Pampanga.
“We are expecting them the men’s and women’s champions to be here,” said Powerman Philippines Marketing Director Rich Alvarez.
Alvarez said this in the presence of Powerman Philippines Chairman Raymund Magdaluyo, general manager Kaye Lopez, Powerman Philippines President Owen Gan and Asia Brewery Category manager Jill Villanueva.
The world championships is set on Sept. 2 in Zofingen, Switzerland.
Last year, Richard Murray and back-to-back champion Emma Pallant came over after respectively winning the men’s and women’s crowns in Aviles, Spain.
They will be joined by Dutch bets Thomas Bruins and Miriam Van Reijen. Bruins has been dominating the Asian Circuit and is seeking to finish the season with a Philippine title.
Alvarez added that they are expecting more local participants in the coming months.
“We’re expecting 800. With still two months to go, we already have 550 participants,” said Alvarez.
The competition, which is handled by F&F International Events Group, is now on its third year.
Organizers said a big turnout of local participants is seen, now that the sport is growing in the country.
The race will feature categories in the Powerman Classic (10-km run, 60-km bike, 10-km run), the Powerman Short (5k run, 30-km bike, 5-km run) and the Powerteens.
Duathletes will traverse the smooth, wide roads of Clark Field and the scenic view of SCTEX.
“In terms of difficulty, it’s (the course) fast. We can expect fast times in both the run and the bike courses,” said Lopez.