LOCAL triathlon gets further boost as top Asian multisport brand TRI-Factor holds the third leg of its Asian Championship Series in Camarines Sur in May with a slew of rising and leading triathletes in the region expected to see action.
Put up to provide multi-sport beginners, enthusiasts and veteran triathletes —even kids—a venue to hone their talent and skills in swimming, biking and running, the TRI-Factor have grown from organizing multi-sport events in Singapore to creating the premier short-course championship series across the Asian region.
It features kids triathlon (100, swim-5km bike-1km run), freshmen triathlon (200m swim-10km bike-2km run), sprint triathlon (750m swim-20km bike-5km run), standard triathlon (1.5km-40km bike-10km run) and long triathlon (1.5km swim-60km bike-15km run).
“We’re pleased to announce the TRI-Factor Asian Championship series with new races in the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia and China. Our purpose is to provide our athletes diverse race options throughout the year, catering to the specific needs of the athletes across Asia,” said Elvin Ting, manager director of organizing Orange Room Pte Ltd., during yesterday’s event launch at Alphaland City Club in Makati City.
The Asian Championship 2018 series will kick off in Singapore on April 22 then to China on May 13 before action shifts to the Phl on May 25-27 at Camsur Watersports Complex in Camarines Sur.
The TRI-Factor is also staged to promote an active and healthy lifestyle, particularly among the youth, and its Asian Championship leg will be held here for two years – 2018 and 2019, where hosting of more events including new race formats like CYCLE-RUN-CYCLE are being looked into. Its staging in the country comes at a time when local triathlon is enjoying tremendous boom with top-notch events held regularly across the country the last few years.
“Tri-Factor’s coming to the Philippines would be a great opportunity and new challenge for the newbies to engage in triathlon and pioneer triathletes to take the opportunity of racing in other parts of Asia especially in China under a different triathlon format. I’m looking forward to be in both the Philippines and China legs of Tri-Factor and I am really excited to go back to CWC, which is a great venue for a triathlon,” said Taguig Rep. and triathlete Pia Cayetano, upon learning about Tri-Factor’s arrival in the Philippines.
Founded in 2009, TRI-Factor is aimed at building a community and culture of Asian athletes racing with the region with its short distances and secured courses allowing beginners to master swimming, cycling and running and prepare them for the regular triathlon events.
Each TRI-Factor race finish gives athletes points counting toward a year-end ranking. For the Asian Championship series, each race will be assigned a Race Course index depending on the degree of difficulty where points awarded will be multiplied with the index, allowing athletes to rack up bigger points at the tougher races.
Titles to be dispute are the Series Asian, Best Country Athlete of the Year, Best Country Junior Athlete of the Year, Best Veteran Country Athlete of the Year, Top First-Timer Athlete and Top First-Timer Junior Athlete.
Also on tap are the Club Challenge and Corporate Challenge for companies and triathlon clubs. For details, visit www.trifactor.asia.