MANILA, Philippines - Top Filipino duathlete Carlo Pedregosa turned the tough South Sumatra ITU Duathlon Premium Asian Cup 2013 elite division into his own one-man show in Palembang, Sumatra Indonesia Saturday.
Pedregosa, son of former Gintong Alay 1500 meters specialist Edgardo, took the initiative in the early going and never looked back. He negotiated the 10K run-40K bike-5K event in 2 hours, 10 minutes, 46 seconds for the gold medal.
After the first bike phase, Pedregosa had already erected a two-minute cushion over his closest pursuer, Shahrom Abdullah, from among the more than 200-strong field from Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand and Malaysia.
Malaysia’s Abdullah who managed to narrow the gap by a minute at the close of the bike leg eventually settled for the silver medal. He clocked 2:11:45.
Pedregosa’s teammate, Robeno Javier, rounded out the podium finishers with a time of 2:11:45 despite a dismal 23:30 5K run leg.
“Two years ago in Palembang, we were deprived of the chance to contribute a gold medal to the Philippine campaign in the SEA Games as triathlon and its derivatives were also excluded in the Myanmar SEA Games. In this context, Pedregosa’s feat is indeed significant,†said Triathlon Association of the Philippines president and Philippine Olympic Committee chairman Tom Carrasco.
The third campaigner in the lean squad team funded by the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) and supported by Gatorade, K-Swiss and David’s Salon, Robinson Esteves, landed in sixth place in 2:16:24.
“I told the boys to pour it on early. From our training and previous races, I have observed they do better when they are leading rather than when they are pursuing,†said National coach Edgardo Pedregosa.