630 triathletes vie in NAGT opening leg

MANILA, Philippines — A record field of 630 triathletes fires off the 2018 National Age-Group Triathlon (NAGT) series on Jan.  28 at 6 a.m. at the ACEA Resort area at San Bernardino in the Subic Bay Freeport.

The NAGT series is the Triathlon Association of the Philippines’ (TRAP) main platform in recruiting new talents for the national team competing in the Southeast Asian Games (SEA Games), the Asian Games, Asia Cup events and the ITU World Cup events. The Youth Olympic Games (YOG) aspirants are entered in the Sprint distance events as a first gauge of their readiness after shifting from the shorter Super Sprint distance. This year’s roster is the largest in the seven-year history of the NAGT series and entries for the Super Sprint and Sprint distance races showed remarkable growth.

Organized by the TRAP in cooperation with the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority’s (SBMA) Tourism Department, the event is composed of Standard Distance (1.5 Km swim – 40 Km bike – 10 Km run), Sprint Distance (750 meter – 20 Km bike – 5 Km run) and Super Sprint Distance (500-meter swim – 10 Km bike – 2.5 Km run). The swim will be held at ACEA Beach resort followed by the bike leg which will stretch out to Argonaut Highway. The run will be in San Bernardino.

At stake in the event sponsored by the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC), Gatorade, SBMA, Harbor Point Ayala Mall, Standard Insurance and Asian Centre for Insulation Philippines are qualifying points for the Youth Olympic Games (YOG) triathlon event which will be held this October at Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Meanwhile the Top 3 finishers on each age-group category (on all three distances) and team relay categories will receive medals.