Painful victory

Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net

CEBU—Tim Reed’s path to his second straight title in the Ironman 70.3 Philippines was, literally, something he needed to gut out.

With the heat reaching nearly 38 degrees Celsius and the competition just as hot, Reed had to dig deep into his reserves to become the champion of Cebu Sunday at Shangri-La Mactan here.

“It was pretty stressful because you get that close to the finish line and I’ve been cramping for a long way leading up to that,” said Reed after winning a fourth Cebu title.

“I was thinking I might crawl to the finish line. Thankfully, I just walked to get there, but yeah it was a highly stressful moment.”

Reed, the winner of the Subic Bay race, had an official time of four hours, one minute and 22 seconds and had his fastest pace in the bike course, completing 90 kilometers at 2:06:27, more than five minutes quicker than the second-best biker, Eric Watson.

That frantic pace forced the Australian to slow it down in the 21.1-km run as he began cramping up at the start of the race’s most gruelling leg.

Reed not only agonized with his own suffering, but he also kept in mind the presence of 2018 champion Mau Mendez.

The 23-year-old Mexican has been on Reed’s radar for the better part of two years and the new champion said the only way to beat Mendez, whom he considers as the better runner in high temperatures, is to punish himself on the bike.

“He’s such a brilliant runner in the heat and you know I was really thinking ‘how am I going to beat this guy?’” said Reed. “So I’d go back to the old method of absolutely destroying myself on the bike to try to get a lead.”

Mendez, though, withdrew in the middle of the bike course due to a stress fracture in his thighs.

“I’m a bit upset that he wasn’t a factor today. But we all have our ups and downs and I’m sure he’ll bounce back because he’s still a young athlete,” said Reed, who is 34-years-old.

“He’s a champion and he’s going to continue to keep improving.”

Reed was 49 seconds faster than silver medalist Mike Philips, and, after his ice bath, was wheeled out on a stretcher after throwing up.

Switzerland’s Caroline Steffen, meanwhile, was dominant in the women’s division, clocking 4:24:08 to win by more than 12 minutes over Australia’s Dimity Lee Duke.

“I feel great, I love winning races obviously, and to win for the sixth time in Cebu, it’s not an easy task to come back every single year and you know, do it again and again,” said Steffen.

Steffen was the first out of the water at 27:05, just one second faster than Courtney Gilfillan, but her humble lead grew throughout the race.