Naguit, Santiago rule divisions in age group triathlon meet

Louis Angelo Naguit and Gabriel Allen Santiago ruled their respective divisions in Sunday’s 5th leg of the 2010 SPEEDO National Age Group Triathlon (NAGT) at the Narra Park in Ayala Alabang Village in Muntinlupa City. Naguit, 16, needed a big run in the final kilometer to win the 16-19 age group in the sprint distance while the 14-year-old Santiago topped the 13-to-15 division in the mini-sprint to become the latest successful products of the grassroots development program of the organizing Triathlon Association of the Philippines (TRAP). The event attracted a record field of 312 participants, breaking the 254 established during the ANIMO Sprint Triathlon held last June. “It is our objective to promote the sport by improving the quality and distance of the race and at the same time discover potential triathletes for future international tournaments. I believe we achieved both goals in this event," said TRAP president Tom Carrasco Jr. The race also featured 900-meter swim and 30k bike portions. Naguit was pushed to the limit by Kevin Raphael Dumol, but the latter failed to match Naguit's stride in the final stretch of the 6.7-kilometer run. Naguit, who hopes to land a seat in the national pool next year, clocked one hour, 46 minutes and 35 seconds, 16 seconds faster than Dumol. “This is my first race in the sprint distance although I have won other titles in the shorter distance. I decided to try this distance to give myself another challenge," said Naguit, a second-year Sports Studies student of De La Salle University. Santiago, meanwhile, posted a near four-minute advantage over his closest pursuers in ruling the 300m swim, 11.6k bike and 2.5k run legs of the mini-sprint distance. The Pandacan, Manila native negotiated the race in 40:12 to overcome the challenge posted by Jose Ignacio Mapa (44:02) and Kurt Izak Cabanilla (44:16). Elmer Ching III, a professor at the San Pedro College of Business and Arts, and 19-year-old La Salle student Carmina Ann Nombress topped the men’s and women’s divisions of the Super Mini-Sprint. Ching timed 1:07:41 while Nombres clocked in 1:18:30 in the 600m swim, 16.8k bike and3.2k run. The final leg of the NAGT will be held on December 11 in Los Banos, Laguna. – JVP/KY, GMANews.TV