Hirano leads Japanese invasion, tops Subic triathlon

Finally, Tsukasa Hirano ruled the 2010 ITU Subic Bay International Triathlon-Asia Cup. Denied of a chance to win the crown when he first competed in 2004, Hirano made sure he won't fall short this time. "The heat was too much, but the course was very good. I was in the lead pack from the start and it was in the run where I slowly pulled away," said Hirano, who outclassed his rivals from New Zealand and Hungary. The 27-year old Chiba-based triathlete negotiated the 1.5-k swim, 40-k bike and 10-k run distance in one hour, 56 minutes and 53 seconds to top Sunday's race held at the Subic Bay Freeport. Hirano's 34:08 run emerged as the fastest time among the participants in this race organized by Triathlon Association of the Philippines (TRAP) in cooperation with theSubic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) and Philippine Sports Commission (PSC). It was also Hirano's first win in four races this year as he placed 10th in the Mazatlan ITU Triathon Pan American Cup, finished 19th in the Ishigaki ITU Triathlon World Cup and a 42nd spot ending in the Dextro Energy Triathlon-ITU World Championship Series in Sydney, Australia. Settling for second was Dylan McNeice of New Zealand (1:57:24) while Hungary’s Csaba Rendes took third (1:58:00). George Vilog, the lone Filipino bet, finished 11th in 2:14:11. "It’s difficult to compete, especially when you’re trailing against the best triathletes. It's really hard to catch up. But I'm satisfied with my performance since I’m 34 years old," said Vilog, who wanted to concentrate on helping the national pool. Hong Kong’s Ivan Lo Ching Hin topped the men’s Under-23, beating Japan's Takayuki Ike and Syogo Ishitsuka. Lo placed second in the swim leg and took the lead in the grueling bike race en route to registering the best time at 2:00:53. At second was 19-year old Ike who is competing in his first international race after taking up triathlon two weeks ago. He submitted a time of 2:01:52 while teammate Ishitsuka came in third at 2:02:04. New national team recruit Brian Borling of Cagayan de Oro came in 14th (2:15:26). "This is my first race this year, that’s why I was struggling. I worked for three months in Singapore as a bike mechanic. But now, I'm back for training. This is my second time competing in Subic and I managed to improve my time from my previous record," said Borling. With Ike and Ishitsuka leading the team, Japan emerged the best squad in the Under-23 while Hong Kong took second and Chinese Taipei placed third. Japan also had the most gold medals with six. JVP/RCJ, GMANews.TV