Macalalad joins ASTC triathlon team for world tiff

MANILA, Philippines - Filipino Edward Macalalad has been named as an official member of the Asian Triathlon Confederation (ASTC) team, which will compete in the Asian Championships and the World Championships this year.

The 18-year-old Macalalad will thus join Chinese Taipei’s Hshieh Wen Chuan and Chih Feng Lin and Malaysia’s Zakaria Muhammad Tareef Azfar in the squad mentored by coach Luc Morin with assistants Ungu Mohd Maznan (Malaysia), Wei Chen Chan (Chinese Taipei) and Anthony Lozada (Philippines).

Aside from the Asian Championships and World Championships, the ASTC team will also attend triathlon camps around Asia as well as the prestigious ITU Triathlon Camp.

Macalalad’s inclusion in the team surprised a lot since he is perceived to be weak in swimming although the San Beda College business major and a product of the SuperTriKids (STK) program who had also participated in the Asian Beach Games as well as in many Asian Cup races had been working hard to improve in this department.

Meanwhile, national triathletes Kim Mangrobang and Nikko Huelgas recently left for the DESMOR High Performance Training Camp in Portugal under the supervision of Coach Sergio Santos and supported by the Philippine Sports Commission as part of their buildup for this year’s SEA Games in Singapore.

Santos was the coach of former world No. 1 Vanessa Fernandez and worked with the Philippine team in 2014 to help the country its best results ever in the Asian Games.

Aside from training, they will also test their mettle against some of Europe’s best in European Cup Races in Quarteria and Mellila. Huelgas and Mangrobang will return just before the SEA Games in Singapore in June.