Husband-and-wife Ben Allen and Jacqui Slack-Allen seek to foil Bradley Weiss and Carina Wasle’s back-to-back title drive and pull off a sweep of the Xterra Philippines series when the off-road triathlon is fired off Sunday in Danao, Cebu.
Ben and Jacqui missed the inaugural Xterra staging in Danao last year after placing third and second, respectively, in Albay in 2016 but both are coming into the event organized by Sunrise Events, Inc. ready to contend with the best in the fold.
Weiss and Wasle won over an international field last year but both expect a tougher challenge this time with Allen aiming to add the title to his past Xterra victories in Malaysia, Asia Pacific Tour, Saipan and Guam.
Two other couples—JackiXterra e Boisset and Myriam Guillot-Boisset of France and Brodie Gardner and partner Kate Schultz of Australia—are also entered in the 1.5K swim-28K mountain bike-8K trail run event serving as the second of three Xterra races slated at Coco Palms Beach Resort and Cebu Technological U in Danao.
Also tipped to contend for the crown are New Zealand’s Sam Osborne and Japanese Takahiro Ogasawara, winners of Xterra Saipan in 2017 and 2016, respectively.