Favorites beg off as Black Arrow 5150 now wide open

Mitch Robins and Manami Iijima pulled out at the last minute, leaving Jakub Langhammer and Sam Betten to dispute the men’s pro crown and Dimity Lee Duke and Laura Wood to slug it out in the women’s side as the Black Arrow Express 5150 gets off the ground on Sunday in Subic Bay. Robins, who nipped Betten in the last of the two-loop run leg to rule the inaugural staging of the event last year, withdrew for undisclosed reasons. Iijima, who humbled the multititled Duke in the event set over the Olympic distance of 1.5-kilometer swim-40-km bike-10-km run, begged off due to injury.