Surban rules XTR Mountainbike Challenge

After a series of victories out-of-town, Nino Surban showed his fellow Cebuanos the form signaling his return by winning the second Team XTR Mountainbike Challenge in Compostela, Cebu over the weekend.

Surban's participation, however, had to be agreed by the rest of the participants under the junior-senior division.

For several occasions, Surban have been barred from joining local races because he is a member of the national team.

This time, the field accepted the challenge and allowed Surban to join them so they will be able to test how they fare, the ending of which saw some being overlapped.

Surban won the 10-lap race by a large margin over Earl Vince Cadampog.

"Nagpasalamat gyud ko nilang Andot (Sabal) and Dennis sa Team XTR nga ila kong gipaduwa karon. Ingon sila, kung way mo-protesta, pwede. Wala man, so nakaduwa ko," said Surban.

Despite such a large gap, Cadampog did not feel miserable as he also got the second place by a large margin against another former RP member Jojo Cortes.

Evic Largo was fourth while the fast-rising Loren Codera wound up fifth.

The master's division saw Noel Famor on top while Ben Fabroa won the veteran's class. Javier Benito was the fastest among the fatboys and Rudy Cordero among the golden boys.

Jun Taneo grabbed the executive class title over Jun Amores although San Francisco, Camotes Mayor Al Arquillano also had some attention on his side after daring to compete in a less familiar route and wound up seventh overall in their class in the event organized by Team XTR and officiated by the Sports And Fitness Enthusiasts (SAFE).