Jakarta-bound Furuya tops local, foreign bets in ASTC triathlon

MANILA, Philippines — Japanese Jumpei Furuya, priming up for the Jakarta Asian Games next week, outclassed the entire field to rule the elite Open of the  Mt. Mayon ASTC Triathlon Asian Cup, before a sizeable crowd in Legazpi City, Albay yesterday.

“It was a very good race…the weather was good and I found it a fast course too. The bike posed some challenge though,” said Furuya, the top ranked triathlete in Japan the last two years and member of the young new breed of Japanese endurance racers. He clocked one hour, 49 minutes, 11 seconds in the 1.5K swim-40K bike-10K run event. 

Hong Kong’s Oscar Coggins placed second in 1:49.54, failing to match Furuya’s strong finish in the run stage.

The Japanese took the next six places Ren Sato finishing third in 1:50:23 followed by Shogo Ishitsuka (1:50:38), Ryosuke Maeda (1:51:19), Yuichi Hosoda (1:52:05), Makoto Odakura (1:53:20) and Ryotako Otani (1:55:44).

Australian Kurt Fryer timed 1:56.17 for ninth while another Japanese, Genta Uchida wound up 10th in 1:57:07.

Reigning national champion John Chicano turned in a 2:01.00 clocking while Mark Hosana placed 22nd in 2:05:46 even as Nikko Huelgas dropped out with a punctured tire.

Filipina triathlete Claire Adorna did better in the distaff side as she fended off the last minute challenge of teammate Kim Kilgroe. Adorna clocked 2:11:18, just two seconds ahead of Kilgroe.

Yurie Kato, ranked fifth back home and a veteran of the Rio Olympics, topped the women’s side of the event hosted by the City Government of Legazpi and backed by NTT. The 31-year-old Kato timed 2:05:22 as she left second placer Long Hoi from Macao in the run leg. Hoi turned in a 2:06:11 clocking while another Japanese Nina Kishimoto placed third in 2:06:42.

“This was a test case for us to validate our fielding of entries in the Asian Games, and we will go with Kim Mangrobang and Kim Kilgroe in the individual division and with Chicano and Huelgas in the men’s side in Indonesia, Mark and Claire will run the relay plus either of the two Kims,” said Triathlon Association president Tomas Carrasco Jr., who joined Legazpi City Mayor Noel Rosal in awarding the medals and cash prizes to the top finishers.

“Definitely we are very happy with the results of this year’s twin races, our local economy has benefited with the arrival of all these local and foreign participants and we are already looking forward to our sixth edition next year, the third as an Asian Cup race,” said Mayor Noel Rosal.