A strong performance in the run stage allowed Australia’s Pete Jacobs to nail his third straight professional elite male title in the Cobra Energy Drink Ironman 70.3 Philippines during Cebu’s first hosting of the yesterday.
Jacobs crossed the finish line at the Shangri-La’s Mactan Resort and Spa with a time of four hours, seven minutes and 38 seconds.
The Australian triathlete was out of the Hilutungan Channel fronting Shangri-La in 21 minutes and 26 seconds. He exchanged leads several times with New Zealand’s Cameron Brown in the 90-kilometer bike segment.
Cameron eventually took the lead from Jacobs when he entered the transition area for the 21K run with Jacobs trailing him by mere seconds.
Jacobs earlier said his chance of defending the title would boil down to the run. True to his words, he posted the fastest time in the run event, clearing Brown by almost two minutes.
Brown, the 10-time New Zealand Ironman winner, settled for second place with a time of 4:09:01.
Third place went to Mathieu O’Halloran of Alaska Team TBB with a time of 4:19:32. O’Halloran is actually a Canadian but has been living in the Philippines for quite sometime already.
Meanwhile, the professional elite female title went to a new triathlete again as first-timer Caroline Steffen of Switzerland clocked 4:20:48 to win the crown.
Since the event’s start in 2009, the female title was never defended by the same person.
Steffen overcame a bad start at the swim event with a good run in the bike stage to snatch the title from defending champion Belinda Granger of Australia.
Bree Wee came in second with a time of 4:27:24 while Granger salvaged third place after clocking 4:32:09.
FORMER ICE VENDOR WINS PH TITLE
Former ice vendor from Tarlac August Benedicto also came up big in this year’s event as he became the new Filipino Elite male champion.
Benedicto bested former champions Noy Jopson, Neil Catiil and Arland Macasieb with a time of 4:27:39.
Again, Benedicto banked on a good run in the bike segment and a swift time in the run stage to rule the division.
Second place went to Franklin Peñalosa, who clocked 4:35:28. Cebu’s highest finisher was FISH18’s Mendel Lopez, who crossed the finish line in 4:39:24. This is only his first half Ironman competition.
Former champion Jopson came in fourth, Catiil placed eighth while Macasieb settled for 12th place.
Defending champion Macasieb’s bid was derailed when his bike suffered a flat tire twice.
Monica Torres bagged her fourth Filipino elite female title when she breasted the tape at 4:48:40.
Second place went to Lea Coline Langit, who clocked 5:09:51 while Marvin Kim Mangrobang was at third place with a time of 5:18:04.
AGE-GROUP
Among the Cebuano participants in the age-group categories, only Ralph Martin Seos-e Jr. was able to bag a podium finish as he placed third in the men’s 25-29 group.
Other age group winners are Billy Biag and Keshia Emmaline Fule in the 18-24; Andy Lordianto and Jaimielle Jacobs in the 25-29; Paul Ryman and Christina Jackson in the 30-34; Assad Attamimi and Andrea Bess in the 35-39; Thomas Vonach and Rhodora Ellis in the 40-44; Nestor Glenn Gonzalez III and Fiona Ottiger in the 45-49; Reiko Azami in the 50-54 female; George Jordan in the 50-54 male; Noboyuki Tanaka in the 55-59; Sam Pritchard in the 60-64 and Brigilio Balaba in the 65-69.
RELAY CATEGORY
The men’s relay title went to Nike Park Team A, which clocked 4:01:16. The team is manned by Johansen Aguilar, Eusebio Quinones and Eric Panique.
The women’s title went to Greenhills Tri. Czarina Tiangco, Michelle Barnachea and Michelle Estuar combined for a total time of 5:39:54.
The mixed relay title was clinched by Nike Park/SMEG Team while the corporate title went to First Endurance CPK Tri.