Chicano bests tough tri-factor field in China

When not competing, triathlete John Leerams Chicano conducts clinics in search of new talents.

The national team mainstay surely inspired young triathletes under his tutelage after ruling the prestigious Tri-Factor International Triathlon in Quzhou, China, recently.

Chicano, a silver medalist in the 2017 Southeast Asian Games in Kuala Lumpur, ruled the men’s standard distance with an impressive clocking of two hours, nine minutes and 17 seconds, besting a tough field of over 400 participants.

Several top-tier international triathletes joined the 1.5-kilometer swim, 40-km bike and 10-km run event, including New Zealand world champion Cameron Brown, Japanese Olympian Hiroyuki Nishiuchi and Fang Zhou, China’s top triathlete.

“To win in an international race against some of the best triathletes in the world is something that we should really be proud of,” said triathlon backer and Go For Gold godfather Jeremy Go.

With the support of Go For Gold, Chicano leads a grassroots outreach program along with national team coach Melvin Fausto.

Their efforts have produced a youth development squad based in Cebu.

Brown, a two-time world Ironman runner-up, topped the Tri-Factor Endro category in 3:36:40 while Li Jianqiang of China snared the sprint distance crown in 1:16:16.

In the women’s category, Chen Cheng won the TF Endro race while Heather de Freitas ruled standard distance.