BOHOL. – John Leerams Chicano and Erika Nicole Burgos showed enduring strength and energy then uncorked furious runs to crown themselves the new Sun Life 5150 Triatlon champions at the Bellevue Resort beachfront on Panglao Island here Sunday.
Chicano, a multi-gold medalist in the SEA Games, posted a best time of 35:41 in the closing run stage and went on to dominate the men’s field and clinch the overall championship in a fast 2:00:04 clocking in the 1.5 km-swim, 40 km-bike and 10 km run race under the Olympic-style setup at one of the country’s top triathlon hubs.
Popularly known as “Rambo” in the triathlon community, Chicano came out of the waters in 20:33, just behind Penong’s 5150 winner Joshua Ramos’ 20:12, yielded to last year’s champion Satar Salem in the bike event, 59:48-58:52, but beat the rest in the run to win by over four minutes in near-ideal conditions.
Salem, who placed joint third in the swim leg, 21:07, timed 39:53 in the run leg and settled for runner-up honors in 2:04:44, while Ramos slowed down in the bike (01:00:09) and finished in 42:30 for third in 02:07:30.
Burgos took control early in her side of the battle, clocking 21:20 against Leyann Ramo’s 23:40 in the swim leg, gave up the lead in bike (01:15:09-01:11:10) but, like Chicano, put up a strong finishing kick (43:18) to claim the women’s overall title in 02:24:28 in the event organized by The Ironman Group/Sunrise Events, Inc.
Ramo failed to keep pace with Burgos and faded in 50:09 for second in 2:30:10 while Katrina Salazar clocked 2:32:09 for third place in the race sponsored by Sun Life Philippines for the third time and held in conjunction with the Sandugo Festival celebrations, a project of the Province of Bohol under Gov. Aris Aumentado.
Chicano (30-34) and Burgos (20-24) also topped their respective age group divisions with Salem and Ramos ruling the male 25-29 and 20-24 classes, respectively. Ramo also claimed the women’s 30-34 trophy while Salazar reigned in the 15-19 category
Sharing the spotlight were Matthew Hermosa and Nicole del Rosario, who snared the Go for Gold Sunrise Sprint titles in varying fashions in a race disputed over the 750m open-water swim, 20km bike ride and a 5km run distance.
