BOHOL — John Leerams Chicano and Erika Nicole Burgos flashed enduring strength and energy then uncorked furious runs to crown themselves the new Sun Life 5150 Triathlon champions at the Bellevue Resort beachfront on Panglao Island here on Sunday.
Chicano, a multi-gold medalist in the Southeast Games, posted a personal best of 35 minutes and 41 seconds 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-kilometer-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 00:20:33, just behind Penong's 5150 winner Joshua Ramos' 00:20:12, yielded to last year's champion Satar Salem in the bike event, 00:59:48-00:58:52, but beat the rest in the run to win by over four minutes in near-ideal conditions.
Salem, who placed joint third in swim, 00:21:07, timed 00:39:53 in the run and settled for runner-up honors in 2:04:44, while Ramos slowed down in the bike (01:00:09) and finished in 00:42:30 for third in 02:07:30.
Burgos, on the other hand, took control early in her side of the battle, clocking 00:21:20 against Leyann Ramos' 00:23:40 in swim, gave up the lead in bike (01:15:09-01:11:10) but, like Chicano, put up a strong finishing kick (00:43:18) to claim the women's overall title in 02:24:28.
Ramos failed to keep pace with Burgos and faded in 00:50:09 for second in 02:30:10 while Katrina Salazar clocked 02:32:09 for third place.
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 contested over the 750-meter open-water swim, 20-km bike ride and a 5-km run distance.
Hermosa matched last year's third placer Renz Corbin's 00:08:16 clocking in swim, dropped to second in bike, 00:30:51-00:30:44, but recovered in time at the finish, 00:18:36-00:18:54 to win via the slimmest of margins, 01:01:56-01:02:12.
Joseff Quirino came in third in 01:03:20.
But Del Rosario asserted her might in the women's side, winning in 01:13:12 (00:09:47-00:34:19-00:24:03) with Nicole Rojo and Jamie Lynn Lacaya finishing second and third in 01:17:03 and 01:28:28, respectively.