Mexican champ: Hasta la vista

DAVAO CITY, Philippines — Mauricio Mendez, the newly-crowned Ironman 70.3 champion, will keep coming back for more.

This early, the Mexican who just turned 23 is checking his calendar for the Century Tuna Ironman on June 3 in Subic or another race being offered by Sunrise Events, Inc. in Cebu City in August.

The Ironman is twice as tough as last Sunday’s race here, which Mendez won in impressive fashion.

A full Ironman consists of a 3.8 km ocean swim, 180 km bike and 42 km run, a full marathon. Only 1,000 slots will be offered for the Subic race, which coincides with 10th anniversary of SEI.

“I look forward to keep coming here,” said the Mexican who won practically every race he joined the past two years, with victories in Texas, Los Cabos, Sweden, Denmark, Italy and Kapalua, Hawaii for the 2016 XTerra world championship.

“This is my first win here. I like to race in the heat. I look forward to keep coming here,” said Mendez, a crowd darling here in Davao.

Mendez, who finished second to Australian Tim Reed in the 2017 Ironman 70.3 in Cebu, said he drew strength from last Sunday’s crowd.

The race covered the major streets of Davao, and the good-looking triathlete said the participants were cheered on every inch of the way.

“The support from the people here is just amazing,” he said.

“The ninety kilometers of the bike and the 21 kilometers of the run... every single meter there was someone cheering,” said Mendez.

He easily won the hearts of the Davaoenos, especially the female fans.

“They’re just amazing,” said Mendez.

They’ll see more of this Mexican champ.