MANILA, Philippines—Teener Allen Santiago lagged behind early, yet came back with his solid running form to rule the Wetshop Green Aquathlon Sunday at the Philsports Complex in Pasig City.
One of the latest members of the national pool, Santiago submitted a time of 24 minutes and 31 seconds to top the 800m swim-3K run event of the men’s 16-19 age class.
“There were three of us tightly competing but I fell behind by almost 25 seconds [in the swim leg],” said the 16-year-old Santiago in Filipino. “So I just tried to make up for it in the run leg.”
Edward Vine Macalalad registered the fastest swimming time of 12:54 minutes to Santiago’s 13:19, but was 45 seconds removed from his rival in the running event to settle for second with a 24:51 clocking.
Kurt Izak Cabanilla rounded up the podium finishers with a 25:15 performance.
Jhon Romar Buenaceda (25-29) topped the male age groups along with Jerson Belonghilot (30-34), Jose De Vera (35-39) and Juan
Apolinario Reyes (40-44).
Former national swimmer Luica Dacanay (20-29) sustained her fine form in the female age groups along with Jennifer Mae Alcantara (16-19), Karen Carpio (30-39) and Monica
Altura (40-over).
Other winners in the kids category were Calvin Goebel and Jea Beatriz Bernardo (7-8), Cedric Nathan Castrillo and Samantha Borlain (9-10), Gerard Emiljani Samson and Regina Castrillo (11-12) and Mark Gregory Pile and Bernasconi Echauz (13-15).
A total of 145 racers competed in the event sanctioned by the Triathlon Association of the Philippines (Trap).
“The sport is growing,” said Vince Garcia, vice president of Holofer Marketing Corp. “We have more participants compared to last year.”
The first leg of the 2012 Speedo National Age Group Triathlon on Feb. 5 in Subic is the next event Trap has lined up for the year.