Tri United 3 Triathletes exceed themselves by beating their Personal Best

It was a win-win triathlon for the organizers Bike King and Unilab Active Health (ULAH) as well as many of the participating triathletes at the just concluded Tri United 3 Elite-Age Group Championship at Dungaree Beach of Subic Freeport recently. A number of participants leveled up and posted new personal records, which they attribute to the event being well-organized, from the safe and challenging routes to the pre- and post-race support.

More than four hundred traithletes took part in the third leg of Tri United Elite-Age Group Championship at Dungaree Beach of Subic Freeport and conquered 1.5 km swim, 40 km bike and 10 km run race.

The weather was near perfect when the gun rang off for the 470 participants at the starting line. The participants are generally in good spirits before, during and after the race. They particularly liked the nice personal touches such as the customized name plate and transition mat provided for them. And some more extras such as the cymbals that they crash to make noise about exceeding themselves and champagne to cap off a great race.

“All the elements, from the weather to the road conditions, played out nicely for all the participants. Our very own triathlon team came out strong and pulled off a clean sweep— a first for our team,” said Alex Panlilio, Head of Unilab Active Health, who improved his own personal record at TU3.

Coach Ani De Leon-Brown showed unbelievably great stamina and form as she overpowered most traithletes during the Tri United 3 in Freeport Subic. Brown bagged the women’s Elite title with 2:33:05.  

Team Unilab Active Health’s triumvirate of Benjamin Rana, Jr. Mark Anthony Husana and Philip Atento dominated the 1.5 km swim, 40 km bike and 10 km elite race. Rana placed first as he clocked in two hours, five minutes and 37 seconds. Followed by Husana (2:11:00) and Atento (2:13:58) for second and third, respectively. Their teammate and coach, Ani de Leon-Brown, champed it out at the women’s Elite race with a time of 2:33:05. Brown was followed by Kristina Beckendorf who clocked in 2:34:33.

The other members of Team Unilab Active Health also had podium finishes in their respective age groups. These include Drew Arellano and Ramon Rodriguez who placed first and second respectively in the male 30-34 age group, Javy Olives who placed third in 35-39 age group, and teen Samuel Ranque who placed third in the 15-16 age group.

Tri United 3 triathletes pedalled their way to the transition area to finish the 1.5 km swim, 40 km bike and 10 km run race.

The shorter race course of 750m swim-20K bike-5K run for the teen participants was dominated by La Union lad Juan Carlos Abad who clocked in 1:10:40 to place first in the 15-16 age group and Joshua Ranque (1:15:28) in the 17-19 age group. Christianne de Vera who clocked in 1:37:13 to lead the teen girls’ 17-19 age group, while Sophia Ysabelle Jamila was the sole winner in the 15-16 age group with a time of 1:40:28

The other Elite Age Group winners were Mervin Rencel De Los Santos Santiago and Kriska Rose Marzan Sto. Domingo (20-24), Don Berba Velasco and Angelica Pascual Limjoco (25-29), Andrew Estrella Arellano and Nathalia Marie Tan Benipayo (30-34), Edison Salawad Morales(35-39), Rayzon Galdonez and  Roque Endaya (40-44), Joevic Gallo Pajarillo and Mariela Janet Martinez Powell (45-49), Jaime Corea  Lopez (male 50-54) and Josef Gueta (male 55-above).

Benjamin Rana, Jr.  of the Team Unilab Active Health dominated the male elite category of this year’s Tri United 3. Rana finished strong with 02:05:37. 

Team Sante Barley bested four other tri teams (Endure Multisport, PLDT-Bike King, Smart Triathlon Team, TriMac and Unilab Active Health) and bagged the team championship with an accumulated time of 27 hours and 15 minutes.
Organized by Bike King, the event was supported by Unilab Active Health, Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority Tourism Department, Enervon Active, Enervon HP, I-ON Energy Drink, Hydrite, AboitizPower, Pocari Sweat, Timex, Crystal Clear Purified Water, Corima and Orbea.

Tri United 3 champion teams from left to right: PLDT-BikeKing (second place), Sante Barley (first place), Trimac (third place). With them are Coach Raul Cuevas of BikeKing (leftmost, 2^nd row), Lester Castillo, Sports and PR Executive of Unilab Active Health (leftmost, 1^st row) and Alex Panlilio, Head of ULAH (rightmost, 1^st row).

As this develops, Tri United 4 in Clark is scheduled on November 24 with a friendly distance of 900m swim, 30km bike, and 5km run. For results and more details about Tri United and other races, please visit www.unilabactivehealth.com  or its social media pages.