Satar Salem and Leyann Ramo ruled their respective divisions in the Ironman 70.3 triathlon competition in Puerto Princesa City, Palawan on Sunday. Salem registered an overall time of four hours, 22 minutes and 25 seconds (29:08 in swim, 02:22:31 in bike and 1:26:40 in run), beating Chinese Junyu Cao, who posted 4:23:13 (30:04 in swim, 02:21:40 in bike and 01:26:39 in run). ‘I’ve been eyeing this for the whole year and now it has come true. With all the hard training, it finally bore fruit,’ said the Lanao del Norte native who bagged P60,000. He said he was focused not to make the same mistake he did last year. ‘Now, I made sure to reserve some strength to the push for the run part,’ added Salem, who placed 17th last year. ‘The most challenging part was the run because Cao was really close behind and was also determined to win. The last two kilometers were crucial because Cao was also pressing hard to catch up and I could feel him behind. But I pushed the hardest.” Dutch Eric van der Linden, winner of the full Ironman in Subic, Zambalez last June, finished third (04:24:41), followed by Mervin Santiago (04:29:25) and defending champion John Alcala (04:32:20). Meanwhile, Ramo topped the women’s division in 5:02:56 (29:39 in swim, 02:41:18 in bike and 1:47:44 in run). Grace Banzon settled for second in 5:29:23, followed by American Catherine Wood (5:36:26), Chloe Jane Ong (5:38:47) and Brazilian A. Nunez Muellerroger (5:41:00). A total of 38 countries joined the 1.9km swim, 90km bike, and 21.1km event organized by the Ironman Group/Sunrise Events, Inc. and which was also a first-time host to the TriClub Championship Series.
Source: Philippines News Agency
