Resilience, teamwork have triathlon producing gold
By Michael Angelo S. Murillo
Reporter
MONDAY proved to be a better day for Team Philippines in the 29th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games with triathlon producing impressive 1-2 finishes in both the men’s and women’s events.
It was a result, the athletes said, of their hard work and dedication to training and resilience as well as their willingness to work together as a team for the greater good of bringing pride and honor to the country.
The men’s side was first to break through for the Philippine triathlon team with Nikko Huelgas and teammate John Chicano finishing first and second.
Mr. Huelgas, the gold medalist in the previous SEA Games in Singapore, clocked one hour, 59 minutes and 21 seconds to retain his crown while Mr. Chicano timed 2:01:26 to formally complete a gold-silver medal performance in men’s triathlon, that saw competitors going through a 1.5-kilometer swim, 40-km. bike ride and 10-km. run course.
Gold-winning Huelgas found himself trailing early in the opening swim but mustered the strength and will to fight his way through to overtake early leader Clement Chow of Singapore and hold the rest of the way along with teammate Chicano.
“Deliver when it matters most. When the country needed you most. For the love. For the Lord,” Mr. Huelgas wrote on his Twitter account after his win.
He went on to say in later interviews that he is very happy that their preparation paid off and they were able to win their event.
TEAMWORK
Moments later, it was the Filipina triathletes who turned over their 1-2 finish with Kim Mangrobang and Ma. Claire Adorna winning gold and silver, respectively.
The Filipinas showed the same amount of team work in the distaff side that allowed them to get the better of hometown bet Irene Wong.
Ms. Mangrobang took the gold with a time of two hours, 11 minutes and 14 seconds.
“It’s okay that I lost the gold,” said Ms. Adorna, who ran alongside Ms. Mangrobang up to transition two before suffering cramps that prompted her to give her teammate the go signal to zoom to victory.
“It doesn’t matter who would win. The important thing is that we keep the gold and silver medals and this victory is for the country. We had a very good strategy and we played perfectly as a team,” she added.
The gold medals of the Filipino triathletes padded our haul to three at that time, in addition to the one won by marathoner Mary Joy Tabal last Saturday.
