Course familiarity earns O'Halloran Subic triathlon win

Canadian Mathieu O'Halloran made use of his familiarity with the race course to win the men's division title in Saturday's Asian O3 Long Distance Triathlon held at Subic Bay Freeport in Olongapo City.

Switzerland's Brigitte Niederberge banked on her experience to top the women's class.

O’Halloran who has been staying in Subic and training at the same route since January never gave his rivals any chance as he led from start to finish, in the race organized by the Triathlon Association of the Philippines (Trap) and Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA).

So dominating was O’Halloran that he submitted the best total time of six hours, 36 minutes and 17 seconds. He timed in at 51:14 in the four-kilometer swim leg then punched in 3:30:20 in the bike before finishing the 30K run in 2:14:43.

He was amply rewarded with P45,000 ($1,018), P30,000 ($679) for topping the race and an additional P15,000 ($339) for finishing first in the three events.

“This is my fourth race in six weeks but my first win. This is a good stabilizer for my confidence as I look forward to compete in the Half Ironman in Malaysia two weeks from now," said O’Halloran who hails from Ottawa, Canada.

Second place went to Zimbabwe’s Warren Squires (7:14:05) while French Patrice Robustelli took third with 7:31:32. Squires won P20,000 ($452) while Robustelli earned P10,000 ($226).

Former national coach Peter Gonzales emerged as the best Filipino triathlete as he took fourth place with 7:33:28 time.

In the women’s division, the 33-year old Neiderberger, in her eighth year as a long distance triathlete, distanced herself from early leader Ani Karina De Leon halfway in the first of eight loops in the run leg. She never looked back from there to easily win the race.

Neiderberger clocked in at 7:56:19, 15 minutes better of De Leon’s 8:11:31, to claim the P10,000 ($226) top prize in the female class.

Despite failing to win, De Leon, who collected P8,000 ($181), was contended with her performance after reaching her goal of breaking the eight-hour and 30-minute mark. GMANews.TV