SHAKING off the intense heat and fierce competition, John Chicano won the elite title in the Tri United 1 triathlon event in Subic Bay on Sunday that opened Unilab Active Health's 2014 Tri United season.
Chicano pulled away from a fading Nikko Huelgas in the standard-distance 1.5K swim-40K bike-10K run competition to win with a time of two hours, one minute and 14 seconds.
Huelgas, who took part in three events prior to Tri United 1, finished second with a time of 2:03:22 while Augusto Benedicto finished third with 2:03:49.
In the distaff side, 2012 London Olympian Radka Vodickova of the Czech Republic proved to be too strong as she grabbed the elite title in 2:08:40.
Monica Torres was a far second with 2:15:57 and third place saw a tie between Anna Stroh and Ma. Claire Ordona both with 2:20:44.
The Czech claimed the top prize of P10,000 and a specially designed trophy and giftpacks.
Standard distance age-groupers who emerged as champions were Mervin Santiago and Claudia Tagle (18-24), Robinson Estevez and Chloe Ong (25-29), Jeremiah Isip and Jayline Balatibat (30-34),Edison Morales and Lezette Albarote (35-39), Rayzon Galdonez and Doray Ellis (40-44), Jojo Macalintal and Mariela Pow (45-49), Frank Lacson (50-54) and Thomas Kuhne (55-above).
Meanwhile, Team Fitness First won the team competition with a total time of 26:01:05.
Sprint distance champions were Jimuel Patillan and Vicky Deldio (16-17), Justin Danguilan and Margarita Lazo (18-29), Mark Hernandez and Maria Hizon (30-39), Julius Buen (40-49) and Nona Torres (female 40-above) and Enrico Ibana (50-above).
The BIKEKING organized event saw close to 700 participants.
Next up for BIKEKING and ULAH is Tri United 2 set for July 6 at Laiya, San Juan, Batangas. For updates and complete results, interested parties can visit www.bikekingphilippines.com and www.unilabactivehealth.com
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