Rana, Brown rule Tri United

MANILA, Philippines - Unilab Active Health’s triathletes Benjamin Rana Jr. and Ani Karina de Leon-Brown ruled the Elite category even as new faces Juan Carlos Abad and Christianne Nicolle de Vera dominated the Teens division in yesterday’s TRI United 3 held at the Dungraree Beach in Subic.

Billed as the Elite and Age Group Championships, the race organized by Bikeking headed by Raul Cuevas, attracted 464 participants.

Joining the four individual winners was Team Santy Barley which dominated the team competition in 27 hours, 15 minutes.

Rana negotiated the 1.5K swim, 40K bike and 10K run in 2:05:37, beating UAH teammates Mark Anthony Husana (2:11:00) and Philip Atento (2:13:58).

UAH coach De Leon- Brown needed to sweat it out in the run leg to spoil the challenge of Kristina Beckendorf for line honors among the female competitors.

“I really thought it was going to be more of a relaxing race for me until I noticed that Kristina was slowly gaining on me in the run, so in the end, I really needed to work hard for it,” said De Leon-Brown, who clocked in at 2:33:05.

Beckendorf had the second best time at 2:34:33 but she competed in the 35-39 age group to claim the gold medal.

 Meanwhile, Abad and De Vera banked on their impressive showings in the swim phase to anchor their victories in the Teens division which was held half the distance of the Elite.

The 15-year old Abad, who travelled all the way from Sta. Ana, La Union, was timed at 1:10:40 for the gold medal in the male 15-16 while 18-year old De Vera, a varsity swimmer from La Salle Taft, clocked in at 1:37:13 for first place in the female 17-19 category.

Unilab  Active Health head Alex Panlilio joined Cuevas in the awarding ceremony where the top three finishers received gift packs from UAH.

The event is  supported by Unilab Active Health, Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority  Tourism Department, Enervon Active, Enervon HP, I-ON Energy Drink, Hydrite, AboitizPower, Pocari Sweat, TIMEX, Crystal Clear Purified Water, Corima and Orbea.