Tougher, more challenging course

CEBU, Philippines - Local and foreign participants will be negotiating a modified race course, making the 3rd Vaseline Xterra Weekend on March 2-3 in the municipality of Liloan tougher and more challenging.

This year’s edition of the annual event will start and finish at Sea Front Beach Resort. The bike segment will be mostly off-road unlike during the first two stagings wherein there were part of the race course that’s on paved roads since it was inside the Amara subdivision.

“Yes, we’re going to have a new, modified race course. I couldn’t say it’s much harder or tougher, but based on the feedback ng mga naka-practice na sa Liloan, talagang mahirap na meron na ngang nadisgrasya pero game pa rin siya, tuloy pa rin siya sa pagsali,” said Sunrise Events project director Princess Galura in a press conference yesterday at Café Laguna in Ayala Center-Cebu.

More to the change of race course, the entries in both the full and elite can enjoy more of XTERRA as organizers decided to switch the scheduled of off-road triathlon and the other events.

“Na-realize namin na yung mga nag-join ng triathlon gusto ding mag-trail run. Kaso pag na-una yung trail run, ayaw nilang sumali kasi meron pang triathlon, so we decided to switch the schedule,” added Galura.

 The annual Sunrise-organized meet will feature a pair of triathlon events, the Xterra Lite and the Xterra Philippines Championship.

The Xterra Lite will have participants go through a 500-meter swim, 20-kilometer bike and 5-km run while the Xterra Phl Championship will have them tackle a more gruelling 1.5-km swim, 35-km bike and 10-km run race.

A trail run, which will feautre a more demanding course in 21-km, 10-km and 5-km races for males and females, on March 3 is expected to spice up the weekend. Registration for the March 3 trail run is ongoing at www.xterraphil.com and in all Runner Stores nationwide.

Over 300, including pros from over 40 countries, have confirmed participation in this event, presented by Vaseline Men and sponsored by The Phl STAR, LBC Solutions, Alaska, Summit Water, Multisport, Studio 23, Gatorade, Canon, Aqua Sphere, David's Salon, Intercare, Rocktape, Timex, Smart and Municipality of Liloan, Cebu.

Ben Allen will be back to defend his title against a super strong field that will include last year's runner-up Oliver Marceau, Dan Hugo, Sam Gardner, Matt O'Halloran, Rory Downie, Shahrom Andullah and Bradley Weiss while two-time world champ Lesley Patterson will be the favorite in the women's side.

At stake is the top purse worth $15,000 for the professionals and P120,000 for the top Filipino finisher plus 41 slots to this year's Xterra World Championships, considered the Olympics of triathlon, in Maui, Hawaii.

To know more on the event, one may log on at www.xterraphil.com or visit www.facebook.com/vaselinemenph. Interested parties may also visit ROX and Runnr stores nationwide for more details. (FREEMAN)