Javier, Buhian rule national duathlon tilt
URDANETA City son Robeno Javier reclaimed his lofty billing as the top male duathlete of the country this year while Asingan-born Jeric Buhian dominated the teen category as they ruled the 2013 Philippine National Duathlon Championships held at the Remy Field, Subic Freeport in Zambales on December 1.
The 29-year old Javier, who is bound for the 2014 Asian Duathlon Championship and also the winner of this year’s National Duathlon Championship Series, took the gold medal by besting the country’s 200 top duathletes including 2007 Southeast Asia Games champion Ryan Mendoza and Philippine national triathlon titlist John Chicano.
Javier clocked the 10K run, 40K bike and 5K run in one hour, 54 minutes and 48 seconds, which was 34 seconds faster than Mendoza’s time 1:55:22 for the silver and Chicano’s 1:55:57 for bronze.
The 16-year-old Buhian, meanwhile, erased his disappointing performance of last year’s Asian Duathlon Championship at the same venue as he clocked a remarkable 1:02:26 in the 5K run, 20K bike and 2.5K distance to bag the gold on his division.
“I was leading (last year) when I made a helmet violation in the bicycle transition that caused me a lot,” said Buhian, a neophyte pool member of the PH national team, who defeated Edward Macalalad (1:03:30) and Jarwyn Banatao (1:05:40).
The outstanding performance of the youthful duathletes impressed Triathlon Association of the Philippines president Tom Carrasco, Jr. who said, “We plan to revamp the team with emphasis to put more young duathletes and discipline in the pool next year.”
The event was principally sponsored by the Subic Bay Tourism Authority.–JAGJr.
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