Surban assured of top 15 in Langkawi MBC race

CEBUANO Nino Surban finished a respectable 15th in the 1st stage of the Cross Country Marathon-62km of the ongoing Langkawi International Mountain Bike Challenge (LIMBC) 2011 in Malaysia.

Surban also had a strong 7th place finish in the 4th stage of the “King of The Hill” a 27.8 km Mountain Climb in Gunung Raya.

With his performance, Surban is already assured of making the top 15 in the general classification standings and become the second highest Asian finisher as the Cross Country Short Circuit Criterium enters its penultimate day today.

Surban’s opponents include UCI MTB world champion Burry Stanford of South Africa, Olympic MTB Cross Country 4th placer Lachlan Norris, Asian MTB champion and London Olympic qualifier Kohei Yamamoto of Japan and Chris Froome and Adam Blythe of British-based Team Sky which finished 2nd overall in the Vuelta de Espana.

In the cross country marathon, Surban was the 2nd Asian finisher behind Yamamoto and was ahead of the 4-man Southeast Asian Games-bound Philippine Team.

However, in the mountain-climb stage, Surban bested Yamamoto who placed 21st, and was only behind Standford by 14 seconds and Norris by 10 seconds.

Norris defeated Surban only in the final 800 meters, however, he was still the highest Asian finisher in the event.

Seagames-bound Philippine team members Alvin Benosa was 19th, March McQuinn Aleonar 23rd, Eusebio Quinones 28th and Frederick Feliciano 66th.  /CORRESPONDENT MARS G. ALISON