Pinoy triathletes conquer Melbourne

MANILA, Philippines - A group of 88 Filipinos, including seven females, survived the gruelling Ironman Asia-Pacific Championships in Melbourne recently with Arlan Macasieb posting the best clocking of 10:16.44 for 431st place among 1,936 finishers from some 50 countries.

Every Filipino in the delegation crossed the end-line to beat the 17-hour cutoff in the race that started at 6:30 a.m. with the 3.8 kilometer swim at Frankston then shifted to the 180.2 kilometer bike race on the EastLink motorway and was capped by the 42.2 kilometer run along Port Philip Bay to the Catani Gardens.

Alaska/Sunrise Events CEO Fred Uytengsu attended the three-day event to confer with World Triathlon Corp. (WTC) officials and support the Filipino contingent, the largest national representation outside of Australia. Sunrise Events general manager Princess Galura, who organized the Philippine participation, was also in Melbourne.

“Triathlon is probably the fastest growing sport in the world and we’re proud that since 2009, we’ve held the Ironman 70.3 in our country with record participation year after year,” said Uytengsu. “This August, we’ll be staging our sixth Ironman 70.3 in Cebu with an all-time high of 2,400 participants. We sold out in four hours. In recognition of our success, the WTC has awarded Sunrise multiple franchises with the rights to stage events in Southeast Asia.”

Galura said the Melbourne organizers welcomed the participation of the Filipino triathletes with open arms. “They invited Filipinos to join, aware of the success of our Ironman events, and we called out for participants on facebook,” she said. “The registration fee was $800 and it wasn’t long before we had our lineup. Alaska provided shirts and supplies for our triathletes and in Melbourne, sponsored a breakfast for everyone so they got to know each other. The beautiful thing about Philippine triathlon is we treat it as a team event even if it’s supposed to be an individual sport. We swim, bike and run together, wearing the same uniforms. We’ve made triathlon a family event.”

The Filipino participants included Naga priest Jay Jacinto, 36, celebrity Matteo Giudicelli’s father Gianluca, 52, real estate broker/developer James Dulalia, 38, engineering company project manager Vic Cruz, 52, Ironman first-timer Raymund Racaza, 34, Bukidnon virtual full-time triathlete Jong Sajulga, 33, car industry executive Jonah Rivera, 38, multi-level marketing CEO Joey Marcelo, 41 and fitness coach Annie de Leon-Brown, 39. 

Cruz said he got himself in shape for Melbourne by training the entire year. “I did the half Ironman in Port Macquarie two years ago so it wasn’t my first time in Australia but it was my first full Ironman,” he said. “I felt like a newbie. My goal was to finish in 15 hours but I was nursing a hamstring strain and didn’t want to push too hard. I lost my salt tablets and luckily, there were Vegemite stations so I helped myself to the salty spread they offered. One of the challenges we faced was in boarding the flight to Melbourne because we had to pack our bikes, helmets, shoes and supplies within the 23 kilo baggage allowance. Some of us paid anywhere between P4,000 to P24,000 for excess weight.” Cruz timed in at 15:52.03 for 1,829th place.

Dulalia, a veteran of three half Ironman events here, admitted he was nervous about not finishing. “It was mental torture,” he said. “I prepared about 20 weeks for Melbourne, not just physically but also mentally. The climate conditions were different. For the first time, I did a triathlon where it wasn’t hot. In fact, it was so cold I had four layers of clothing. I wore a bonnet and gloves. In the swim, there were two waves, one for about 100 elite triathletes and another for the rest of us so it was very crowded in the open sea. Of course, it’s every triathlete’s dream to compete in Kona, the Olympics of triathlon, but it’s hard to qualify and slots are very limited.” Dulalia clocked 15:18.35 to end up 1,789th.

Brown was the fastest Filipina finisher at 11:08.46 for 845th overall. It was her 10th full Ironman. “It was great that we had a large Filipino contingent,” she said. “We felt at home. I’ve participated in triathlons where I was the only one from the Philippines so this was a lot of fun. Each of us or groups of us could give back to the sport in our own little way. We could mentor the batch going to Melbourne next year, advise them to avoid rookie mistakes. As for me, I do three major camps a year, in Subic in January, in Pico de Loro in June and in Nuvali in September. I also coach kids 6 to 12 once a week in Nuvali. Every weekend, I’m doing something related to sports either as a coach or participant.”

Rivera and his buddy Marcelo finished nearly the same time. Rivera checked in at 13:32.11 for 1,592nd place while Marcelo at 13:32.17 for 1,593rd.  “I was introduced to triathlon by Annie because my daughter Isabel was in her Pico de Loro camp three years ago,” said Rivera. “I took it as a challenge to get fit because I looked funny with my bulges in the tri-suit at first. So I lost 10 to 20 pounds, put on muscle and now I don’t look too funny anymore in my tri-suit. I really enjoyed Melbourne because the crowd was so involved, cheering us along the route. In the run, there were hydration stations every two kilometers but I tried not to walk at all. I was nervous but I like feeling nervous because I don’t mess up. It’s an unexplained feeling going through the course, very overwhelming when you finish.” Rivera’s daughter Isabel and Marcelo’s two children were the only Filipinos among 30 in the Ironkids age-group events that took place the day before the Ironman in Melbourne.

Luxembourg’s Dirk Bockel topped the Ironman with a time of 8:01.02 while Switzerland’s Caroline (Zena) Steffen, an Alaska athlete, was the first female finisher at 8:57.57 for 41st place overall.

Galura said the Filipino group that competed in Melbourne is now setting its sights to participate at the Ironman in Tempe, Arizona, next year. Another batch of Filipino triathletes, including former Rep. Gilbert Remulla, Kim Atienza and Raul Floresca, will join the fourth Melbourne event in March.