World champ Duffy, Weiss rule Xterra Albay triathlon

LEGAZPI CITY—South Africa’s Bradley Weiss and reigning world champion Flora Duffy of Bermuda overpowered their elite rivals with brilliant performances yesterday to rule the Xterra Albay Off-Road Triathlon here.

Weiss posted his first men’s pro victory in the international Xterra series with a time of two hours and 28 minutes, besting 19-year-old Mauricio Mendez of Mexico by 58 seconds on a difficult terrain laid out around majestic Mayon Volcano.

Duffy, on her maiden stint in the country, showed why she’s the toast of Xterra by beating the women’s field by more than 12 minutes with a time of 2:43.40 in the 1.5K-swim-35K bike-10K run.

“This is my first championship win,” Weiss told the Inquirer. “I love the race though it’s been tough. I struggled in biking and running but it was quite fun.”

Popular Australian Ben Allen made the men’s podium as third placer in 2:33:51 followed by Brodie Gardner (2:40:35) and Charlie Epperson (2:51:20).

Briton Jacqi Slack followed Duffy home in 2:56.51. Australian Dimity Lee-Duke was third in 3:03.18 and Guam’s Mieko Carey fourth (3:06.39).

Defending champion Renata Bucher of Switzerland, who hurt her right knee three weeks earlier, struggled home a well-beaten fifth in 3:12.53.

“I’m very pleased with my performance,” said Duffy, who led from start to finish. “I had a good swim, bike and run.”

John Chicano ruled the male Filipino Elite class in 2:51:17, with Billy Biag (2:54:04) second and Emmanuel Comendador (2:56:25) third.

The local female podium finishers were Anna Marissa Remigio (3:47:45), Noemi Andrea Galeos (4:01:48) and Angelica Yvonne Limjoco (4:25:17).

A total of 307 triathletes from different countries participated. Among the Filipino personalities who took part were Sen. Pia Cateyano, who clocked 6:01:29 and was second in the 45-49 age group, and actors Ryan Agoncillo, first placer in the 35-39 group (2:02:47), and Matteo Guidicelli who placed seventh in the 25-29 category (3:35:10).

Podium finishers received trophies made from Mayon’s rocks.

Originally posted: 3:41 PM | Sunday, February 8th, 2015