MANILA, Philippines—The Philippine delegation won gold and bronze medals at the 2011 Mekong River Multi-Sports Festival held recently at Chiangsean district, Chiangrai, Thailand.
Lea Coline Langit bagged the gold when she topped the Asian Aquathlon (1,500m swim, 5K run) event, while Robeno Javier took the bronze in the Asian duathlon (10k run, 40k bike, 5k run) stage. The gold-bronze medal haul surpassed the two bronze medals won by duathletes August Benedicto and Monica Torres in the sports festival’s 2010 edition.
It was also Langit’s second Asian Aquathlon title after bagging the said crown in 2009 in Palembang, Indonesia. The said event also saw her claiming the bronze medal in triathlon.
The feat, however, did not come without a sweat as the team and the rest of the competitors had a harrowing experience when an intensity 7 earthquake rocked the province two days before the event was staged.
“Around 9 p.m., we experienced an intensity 7 earthquake and it shook us all up a little including the stuff in our rooms. There were aftershocks all night so most people either slept out in the street or in the massage room on the first floor,” said Coach Dan Brown who led the six athletes and three officials sent by Triathlon Association of the Philippines (TRAP) and financed by the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC).
Best form
Despite the lack of sleep, Langit was still in her best form during the race day as she anchored her campaign on her strength in the swim to submit the Asian best time at 36 minutes and 19 seconds.
Langit came out of the water a second behind the world’s 25th ranked triathlete Rakda Vodickova of Czech Republic at 13 minutes and 59 seconds as she enjoyed an advantage of a minute and 13 seconds over challenger Hoi Long of Macau.
She relaxed in the run leg for a slow 22:20 time but the huge gap Langit had against Long was more than enough to cushion the late surge of her rival who took the silver with 36:21. Taipei’s Chang Luo-Yi bagged the bronze with 36:23 time.
Vodickova, who submitted the best splits at 13:39 and 20:41 for a leading 34:20, was not part of the Asian Championship but was awarded the gold medal in the international division.
Fitting follow-up
Meanwhile, Robeno kept in stride with Japanese duathletes Fukaura Yuya and Kurihara Masaaki for a bronze medal finish in one hour, 59 minutes and 34 seconds.
The performance is a fitting follow-up after Robeno also claimed the bronze medal in the Subic Asian Duahtlon Open held last November. Yuya, who won the gold medal in the Subic race, submitted 1:55:30 time while Masaaki, who topped the male U-23 in the race last November, took the silver with 1:56:03.August Benedicto (2:01:36), Neil Catiil (2:02:05) and Carlo Pedregosa (2:05) settled for fourth, sixth, and eighth spots, respectively, while Jeff Valdez wound up at 11th place with 2:12:33.
“The conditions were great for the event with little wind and cloud cover to keep the heat down. This year’s field was very strong and the depth showed up in the results. A good experience for the athletes,” Brown said.
The event has attracted participants from Japan, Philippines, Iran, Malaysia, Thailand, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, Uzbekistan, Macau, Syria, Czech Republic, Germany, and USA.
MultiSports Magazine