National athletes rule duathlon competition

CANDELARIA, Zambales ,Philippines  – Pangasinense Javier Robeno ruled Saturday’s duathlon competition that, like the road race of cycling the other day, gathered most of the country’s cream of the crop in the run-bike-run event of the inaugural Zambales Multisports Festival.

Robeno, the 25-year-old from Santo Tomas town in Pangasinan, had it all in the bag after the 5-km and 30-km bike legs and merely coasted in the 2.5-km run going home from the out-and-back race at the Iba Provincial Capitol to stave off the challenge of eventual second-placer and many times national champion August Benedicto.

A bronze medallist in the 2004 Asian Duathlon Championships in Thailand, Robeno clocked 17 minutes and 42 seconds (59 seconds faster than Benedicto) in the opening 5-km run and checked in at 45:17 in the bike leg (24 seconds again over Benedicto). With a 1:35 cushion over Benedicto, Robeno had the luxury of coasting in the 2.5-km run where he finished at 9:48, 34 seconds off Benedicto.