Jacobs claims Ironman title

PILI, CAMARINES SUR—Surviving the strength-sapping heat, Australia’s Pete Jacobs yesterday was the best swimmer, the quickest biker and the fastest runner and went on to rule the centerpiece Men’s Pro event of Ironman 70.3 Philippines pulling away at the CamSur Watersports Complex here.   Jacobs denied Kiwi Terenzo Bozzone of a repeat despite being given the wrong direction in the bike race as the Australian still went on to win all three phases of the ultimate test of strength by handling the heat better and turning in an overall clocking of 3:58:41.   The Aussie timed 24:52 for the 19-kilometer swim, was clocked at 2:09:29 for the 90-km bicycle trek before turning in 1:21:15 for the 21-k run that was impressive considering that everyone complained of how hot conditions were.   “The heat was really crazy and it was survival mode for me all the time,” Bozzone said after checking in more than seven minutes behind with his 4:05:54. “It was undoubtedly the hottest day of the week and to Pete’s credit, he really had an unbelievable race today.”   Sweden’s Fredrik Croneberg checked in third, way off the pace with a total time of 4:14:36.   “This is my strongest race ever,” Jacobs told reporters. “I just swam away from the pack and ran fast. I had an awesome day today and the heat didn’t bother me.”   Magari Tisseyre won the Women’s All-Pro over Michellie Jones with a time 4:27:01 after dominating the bike and run stages. Jones, who clocked 4:29:23, had an eight-second edge after the swim but simply could not keep up after getting out of the water.   Tisseyre, a 29-year-old from Victoria, Canada, actually had the sixth best time overall and her victory could be considered an upset of sorts over the 2000 Sydney Olympics silver medalist Jones of the United States.   Rachael Paxton, another bet from Down Under, trailed Tisseyre and Jones all the way and finished third at 4:42:38.   Lisa Bentley, also of Canada, retired at the end of last year and did not defend her title here.   Monica Torres, meanwhile, defended her Women’s Elite title.   Torres rallied mightily in the 19-km run and overhauled a deficit of almost seven minutes to Ani Karina de Leon and Alessandra Araullo-Gonzales to win with a time of five hours and 19 seconds.   De Leon, who topped the swim and bike stages with times of 38:13 and 2:31:23, respectively, faltered badly in the run by lagging behind by almost nine minutes to Torres’ 1:46:51 and checked in second with an overall time of 5:01:56 with Gonzales arriving third at 5:05:17.   Neil Catiil, a 24-year-old member of the national team, clocked 4:37:10 to wrest the Men’s elite crown from Nonoy Jopson. Fil-American Arland Macasaet was second at 4:44:08 and Jopson third with a time of 4:54:32. Reports from Musong R. Castillo, Leica Carpo.