Lalanto makes mark in Davao age group triathlon

Fourteen-year-old Sixto Abet Ramos Lalanto outclassed his older, more experienced rivals to rule the 17-to-19 age group bracket on Sunday in the second leg of the 2011 SPEEDO National Age Group Triathlon (NAGT) held at Matina, Aplaya, Davao City. A veteran of the mini-sprint races last year, the 5-foot-6, second-year high school student created waves in the 1-k swim event, coming out of the water first with the best time of 12 minutes and 25 seconds. He failed to keep up the strong pace in the 30-k bike and 7.5k run legs as he made splits of 56:45 and 39:21, but his overall time at 1:48:31 was enough to repulse the challenge of another 14-year-old, Louie Remegio Matutino, for the gold medal. “We have two 14-year old triathletes who competed for the gold medal. This is an indication of how far the development of triathlon has gone in this country. We hope to see more triathletes of this age in our next NAGT legs since we plan to send a representative for the 2014 Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing, China," said TRAP president Tom Carrasco Jr. Other noted triathletes being groomed for future national teams also made their presence felt, with 22-year-old Jonard Saim of General Santos City winning line honors in the race organized by Triathlon Association of Davao (TRIAD) and supported by SPEEDO, PSC and David’s Salon. Saim, who is being trained by former national champion Arthur Compra, negotiated the distance in 1:32:58. He made up for his third-place finish in the swim event by topping the bike leg with 41:31 time. Twenty-five-year-old national developmental pool member Lorhiz Echavez from Cebu, who is now a part of the developmental pool, emerged as the fastest in the female division with 1:53:55 to win the gold medal in the 20-29 age group. Other winners in the men’s division were Patrick Serrano (1:42:14) in the 25-29; Felipe Sajulga III (1:42:32) in the 30-34; Ryan Sorona (1:49:12) in the 35-39; Donald Robosa (1:47:15) in the 40-44; Kenneth Garcia (1:56:00) in the 45-49; Gem Romero (2:19:48) in the 55-59 and Edgardo Villar (1:55:41) in the 60 and above. Seventeen-year-old Mary Pauline Fornea (1:57:09); Cossette Plaza (2:20:31) and Merly Colmenares (2:20:31) joined Echavez as champions in the female 17-19, 30-39 and 40 and above, respectively. A total of 100 triathletes coming from Davao provinces, Bukidnon, Cagayan de Oro, Cebu, General Santos City and Manila saw action in the race. - KY, RCJ, GMA News