Switzerland’s Renata Bucher and Australia’s Ben Allen continued their winning run in the Vaseline Men X-Terra Off-Road Triathlon Series as they topped their respective divisions in the Cebu leg yesterday at the Amara subdivision in barangay Catarman, Liloan, northern Cebu.
Renata took advantage of the absence of defending champion Shonny Vanlandinghan of Australia to rule the women’s category with a total time of two hours, 53 minutes and 33 seconds.
It was her second straight win in the Xterra race as she also topped the women’s division of the Guam edition last March 10.
Allen, also the winner of the men’s race in Guam, made it two in a row as the 27-year-old Australian dominated the men’s side of the Cebu leg with a time of two hours, 30 minutes and five seconds.
Allen is also the Xterra Brazil defending champion and a former ocean swimmer who turned to triathlon three years ago.
Both Bucher and Allen will now be eyeing three straight wins in the grueling off-road triathlon event when they compete in the Saipan edition of the Xterra triathlon this weekend.
Second placer in the women’s race is United Kingdom’s Jacqui Slack followed by British Darrelle Parker.
XTerra European Tour champion Olivier Marceau of Switzerland placed second in the men’s race while Cedric Lassonde of France came in third.
Meanwhile, 18-year-old Rochelle Tan finished the Xterra weekend with a blast as she placed first in the Filipino Elite women’s category. She also topped the 5k category of the trail run last Saturday.
Tan clocked four hours, 19 minutes and 10 seconds.
Veteran triathlete Neil Catiil defended his title in the men’s division of the Filipino elite category with a time of two hours, 54 minutes and 47 seconds.
Benjamin Ramirez placed first in the 20-24 years old category, Daniel Nelson topped the 25-29 years old category, while Felipe Sajulga III dominated the 30-34 years old category.
Charles Fortier placed first in the 35-39 years old category, Jerome Georges topped the 45-49 years old category while Team Reubin topped the men’s relay.
Camilla Brooks topped the 30-34 years old category, Silvia Tezzie won the 35-39 years old category and Lynda Scott ruled the 45-49 years old category.
In the shorter Lite competition, West Christian Yap topped the 20-24 years old category while team Vaseline Men headed by celebrity Jericho Rosales dominated the team relay. Alberto Solis ruled the 40-44 years old category. Metro Grafix Brick of Cebu ruled the lite relay all male category while Norwhale Tri team topped the mixed relay.