'Gapo trackers dominate IRONKIDS Cebu

CEBU – Darell Bada unleashed a strong finishing kick to foil Carron Canas while Adrian Ungos flashed her superb biking skills to upend Caelle Avanzado as the Olongapo Junior Trackers clinched top honors in the IRONKIDS Philippines in Lapu-Lapu City here Saturday.

Bada rallied from third after the swim leg with a blast of a run at The Mactan Newtown, bagging the boys’ 13-14 diadem in 33:22.0 with clocking of 05:00 (swim), 18:40 (bike) and 09:42 (run). He thwarted Canas, who co-led with Connor Hodges in swim (04:55), hung tough in the bike (18:44) but lost in the closing run (10:29) and finished with 34:08.0.

Hodges wound up third with a 35:13.0 clocking in the 400-m swim, 12-km bike and 3-km run race.

Ungos put up a more impressive fightback, rebounding from fifth in swim with a blistering performance in the bike on her way to matching Bada’s feat in the premier 13-14 division of the four age-category event marking the return of the junior version of the IRONMAN after a long hiatus.

Ungos struggled with a 6:30 clocking (swim) against Avanzado’s 05:51 but timed a fast 19:32 in the bike to wrest control en route to claiming the girls’ crown in 38:23.0 despite slowing down in the run with a 12:21 clocking.

Avanzado yielded the lead with a 21:34 time in bike and fell short of her rally despite a best 11:50 clocking in the run. She finished with 39:15.0.

Celinda Raagas came in third in 40:15.0.

Christy Ann Perez and Yvaine Osias, meanwhile, provided a thriller of a duel in girls’ 11-12 with the former edging the latter by mere eight seconds in stark contrast to the title chase in the boys’ side which Peter del Rosario ruled in wire-to-wire fashion.

Perez trailed Osias by two seconds in swim (03:03-03:01), seized a slight edge in bike (16:24-16:27) before holding sway in the closing run (09:39-09:46) for a total clocking of 29:06.0 over the 400m swim, 6km bike and 2km run distance.

Osias finished with 29:14.0 while Fritzie Surima placed third in 30:26.0 (03:19, 16:59, 10:08).

Del Rosario, on the other hand, took control early in the swim then sustained his form to the finish to win in 26:36.0 with times of 02:47 (swim), 14:13 (bike) and 09:36 (run). He beat Edel Royeras, who timed 28:43.0, nipping Dustin Bersabal (28:44.0) for runner-up honors in the event organized by The IRONMAN Group/Sunrise Events, Inc.

Other winners were Lauren Lee Tan (27:59.0) and Joshua Marquez (35:14.0)  in 9-10 category (200m swim, 6km bike and 1.5km run), while Mitch Salva (17:57.0) and Cael Avanzado (16:05.0) topped the beginners (6-8) division (100m, 2km bike and 1km run) of the event which served as an appetizer to the Megaworld IRONMAN 70.3 set to fire off today (Sunday).

GO4LESS, meanwhile, topped the relay (11-14) with a total clocking of 23:08 as it bested TRI-ZJA (23:48) and TLTG Go for Gold Cebu (24:01), while Coco Running TriTeam 1 ruled the 6-10 division in 15:00 with ASFFPI 1 and Coco Running Tri Team 2 placing second and third in 16:14 and 16:37, respectively.