Weiss rules Xterra Albay on third try

DARAGA, Albay – Third time’s definitely a charm for South African Bradley Weiss.

After a fourth place standing and a runner-up finish in his first two races in the Philippines, the 25-year-old Weiss finally struck gold and snared a breakthrough men’s pro title via Xterra Albay Sunday, sharing the spotlight with reigning world champ Flora Duffy of Bermuda, who lived up to her high billing in the women’s pro competition.

Weiss negotiated the tough terrains of Mayon Volcano’s surroundings in two hours and 28 minutes, beating by 58 seconds fast-rising 19-year-old Mexican Mauricio Mendez for the diadem that his countryman, the now retired Ben Hugo, won last year in Cebu.

Left in the wake of Weiss’ blistering finish was two-time Xterra Philippines winner Ben Allen of Australia (2:33:51), who settled for the bronze.

“I won two weeks ago in South Africa but it wasn’t a championship race. So this is my first (major) championship ever and there couldn’t have been a better location for a first win,” said a triumphant Weiss, who instantly fell in love with majestic Mayon.

 “It will boost my confidence a lot. Definitely moving forward, I can build from here and I’m really excited to the rest of the year," he said.

Weiss came out of the swim at fourth spot, trailing Allen and Mauricio by at least 30 seconds. But he made up for lost ground by expertly navigating the single loop point to point bike race that passed through fire roads, grasslands, sands and rocky trails to boost his bid in the event organized by Sunrise Events, Inc.

“I knew the winner will end up first in the bike so I had to commit to riding as hard and as aggressive as I can. I kept telling myself in the bike to focus and compose myself and really just attack every corner that I could, squeeze everything I could out of the course,” he said.

Weiss finished the bike three minutes ahead of Allen and five up on Mendez. He then ran steadily to seal the win.

 “I really worked hard on bike to stay with Brad Weiss but he was really too strong. And then Mauricio (Mendez) caught me on the run and passed. It wasn’t meant to be for me today,” admitted Allen.

“There’s still a lot of work to do but overall my performance was great,” said Mendez.

Duffy was hardly challenged in the distaff side.

The 27-year-old from Devonshire, Bermuda blitzed past the opposition in the 1.5K-swim, 35K bike and 10K run to handily win the tiara in 2:43.40. British Jacqui Slack crossed the finish line some 12 minutes later at 2:56:51 while Australian Dimity Lee-Duke checked in third at 3:03:18, followed by Mieko Casey of Guam (3:06:39) and last year’s champion, Swiss Renata Bucher (3:12:53).

“I’m very pleased with my performance; I had a good swim, bike and run today,” said Duffy, who led from the start of the race in the beach of Lidong, Sto. Domingo all the way to the finish at iconic Cagsawa Ruins here.

Jan Leerams Chicano and Anna Marissa Remigio ruled the Filipino Elite categories. Chicano won the men’s plum in 2:51:17 over Billy Biag (2:54:04) and Emmanuel Comendador (2:56:25) while Remigio (3:47:45) nipped Noemi Andrea Galeos (4:01:48) and Angelica Yvonne Limjoco (4:25:17) for the ladies diadem.

The Top 3 triathletes received special medals and trophies sculpted from Mayon's rocks from XTERRA Worldwide managing director Dave Nicholas, SEI president Wilfred Steven Uytengsu and Albay Gov. Joey Salceda.

It was the perfect way to start the season for Duffy, who had won seven XTERRA races last year, including the world championship, and intends to duplicate the feat in 2015.

“I didn’t expect it but I wanted it. I wanted to come here and win it but you never know in XTERRA; so many things can go wrong out there so I’m just pleased and relieved to cross the line and win,” said Duffy.

Seeing how Dufffy had maintained a blistering pace, Slack abandoned efforts to steal the win.

“I tried to catch up but I knew how good Flora is and I knew I was probably racing for second place, anyway,” she said.

Bothered by a knee injury suffered three weeks ago, Bucher struggled particularly in the run, and was just happy to finish the race at No. 5

“It was good test for me if could run again given the injury I had recently; I made it and finished fifth, definitely different from last year but I’m still happy,” she said.

The event was held as part of the Tourism Board of the Philippines’ “It’s More Fun in the Philippines” and “Visit the Philippines 2015” program and backed by official courier and logistics partner 2Go and Columbia, Department of Tourism, Prudential, Finisher Pix, Garmin, Intercare, Davids, Shotz, Akari and Devant and hydration partner Coca Cola Femsa.