Remigio, Mongahis dominate road races

JALAJALA, Rizal, Philippines – Nelson Mongahis of Taguig Cycling Club and Anna Marie Remigio of Team David’s Salon reigned supreme as the National Open Cycling Championships flagged off its road races with the individual time trial (ITT) here yesterday.

Mongahis, a former Airman who now coaches executive riders in his hometown Sta. Rosa, Laguna, logged an impressive 57:08.86 in the wind-swept 40K route to capture his first career ITT title at the expense of Reynaldo Navarro (57:28.33) of Roosevelt and Lito Atilano of Sibuyan (1:00:43.16).

“I patiently pushed the pedal throughout and maintained an average speed of 43 (kph),” said Mongahis in Filipino.

Equipped this time with a carbon fiber tri-bike on loan from one of his clients (a bike more fit for ITT races than his old aluminum bike), Mongahis bucked the strong winds that met the 47 riders from starting line to the halfway turn and a slew of rough spots going back to overtake five riders and post the best time.

“The route was quite hard because we’re riding against the wind going to the turn with quite a number of climbs. Going back, we had to avoid several rough roads,” he said.

Navarro, who paced the field until Mongahis submitted a faster time, settled for the silver. He earlier won the team pursuit gold for Roosevelt (with 5 min, 16.57 sec) and got the bronze in individual pursuit, which was won by Sibuyan’s Alfie Catalan in five minutes, 22.44 seconds, in the track events the other day.

Remigio, meanwhile, copped her second gold in the six-day bikefest as she defeated her only rival in the women’s 20K ITT race, Kaye Lopez, with a winning time of 32:16.94. Lopez submitted 33:15.10.

Remigio earlier topped the women’s 1K and placed second to Lopez in the individual pursuit with 5:00.54 against Lopez’s 4:54.54.

Meanwhile, the competition organized by the Integrated Cycling Federation of the Philippines and backed by Gatorade, Pepsi, Magnolia Water and New San Jose Builders culminates today with a 165-km massed start.

This race will start in front of the QC Hall and end at Amoranto Velodrome via Mabitac/Antipolo City.