Pro athletes are promising a great show at Challenge Philippines this Saturday

By Wires February 15, 2015

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Challenge Philippines in Subic Bay, will open the Asian season for long distance professional racing this coming Saturday the 21^st. The event is a Half Distance, 1.9k swim/90k bike/21k run and will be fully corevered by Asiatri. The pros will be competing for a total prize purse of twenty five thousand euros and the event will also pay a bonus for the top Filipinos and South East Asian athletes.

The Men’s race

Leading the favorites on the Men’s race is Denmark’s Rasmus Patreaus, who won Challenge Phuket in 2013 and is one of the fastest swimmers in the sport. He should have some company early on the race from American Brian Fleischmann, a former short course specialist who is used to fast swims, Brian has recently made the shift to long course racing and can change the dynamics of the races he enters. Australian Michael Murphy is another excellent swimmer and biker and should be in or very close to the front pack in the water.

Then there will be a strong chase pack with several cycling and runners specialists urging to bridge the gap. Italian Domenico Passuelo is probably the strongest biker of the field and will come in hot to limit his swim loss, Mitch Robins had the fastest run split of Challenge Phuket in November 2014 and if he is close to the lead by the time the run start, he will definitely be in contention, Fredrik Croneborg is also one of the fastest runners in hot races and for him, the hotter the race, better relatively to others he will run. Team Bahrain’s Eric Watson is a very consistent athlete and should also be among the top athletes.

Another notable name on the start list is 4x World Champion Chris McCormack, while he has announced his focus have shifted from racing at world class level to his other triathlon related activities, you can’t count him out of the race especially as he can be in the mix and change the dynamic of the race, Macca’s last major win was at Ironman 70.3 in Japan last June.

The Women’s race

After the late withdrawl from Czech Radka Vodickova, who was probably the fastest swimmer of the field, American Kelly Williansom will likely be out in the front setting the pace early into the race, and putting some pressure for the chasers work hard on the challenging bike course to bridge the gap.

We should see then a group with bikers and runners specialists trying to bridge the gap, including former pro cyclist Emma Pooley, Parys Edwards both from the UK. Later in the race we should see a move from local favorite Monica Torres and Carol Fuchs, a french athlete based in Thailand is used to the heat and a strong runner in these conditions

Here’s what the pros are expecting from the race:

Rasmus Petræus: "Compared to last year’s preparation, have I been home in DK and smashed my training on the home trainer and treadmill. It’s a very different approach than last year, but I feel very strong and ready to race. It’s my first race in 2015 and that’s always exiting. As well I am back to get a little bit closer to the podium as my puncture last year didn’t do me well and I now I should be up there. You never know what shape the other guys are in, but I have done my work and am looking forward to a great and fun race." — Rasmus Petræus: “Compared to last year’s preparation, have I been home in DK and smashed my training on the home trainer and treadmill. It’s a very different approach than last year, but I feel very strong and ready to race. It’s my first race in 2015 and that’s always exiting.
As well I am back to get a little bit closer to the podium as my puncture last year didn’t do me well and I now I should be up there.
You never know what shape the other guys are in, but I have done my work and am looking forward to a great and fun race.”

Brian Fleischmann: "Kicking off my season in Asia with Challenge Philippines early this year will give me a great opportunity on a extremely difficult course to race some of the best athletes and establish a baseline for the 2015 season. Southeast Asia has always been a favorite destination and I look forward racing in a new destination to kick things off this year which is clear on the other side of the world being that I will be coming from the US. This will be my first Challenge Family event and I look forward to the experience as much as I look forward to lining up at the start line in Subic Bay on Saturday." — Brian Fleischmann: “Kicking off my season in Asia with Challenge Philippines early this year will give me a great opportunity on a extremely difficult course to race some of the best athletes and establish a baseline for the 2015 season. Southeast Asia has always been a favorite destination and I look forward racing in a new destination to kick things off this year which is clear on the other side of the world being that I will be coming from the US. This will be my first Challenge Family event and I look forward to the experience as much as I look forward to lining up at the start line in Subic Bay on Saturday.”

Fredrik Croneborg: “Look forward to start the new season in the Philippines and i would like to improve on my 3rd place from last year. I feel better going into 2015 than any other year before so i hope it will show already in this race. “ — Fredrik Croneborg:
“Look forward to start the new season in the Philippines and i would like to improve on my 3rd place from last year. I feel better going into 2015 than any other year before so i hope it will show already in this race. “

Eric Watson: "I'm hoping for a top 5 finish, I have done the race before last year the hill are the aim of the game & I would say the run difficult as well, with some nice humidity in there & you really have a challenge come race day." — Eric Watson: “I’m hoping for a top 5 finish, I have done the race before last year the hill are the aim of the game & I would say the run difficult as well, with some nice humidity in there & you really have a challenge come race day.”

Christoph Schlagbauer: "Unfortunately my expectations got dampen after a bike crash on the island of Bohol 3 weeks ago. Due to contusions of my hip and my shoulder, I just began to swim and run again one week ago, so I have to gamble on my bike split. All participants can expect a well organized race, that's why I don't want to miss my start." — Christoph Schlagbauer:
“Unfortunately my expectations got dampen after a bike crash on the island of Bohol 3 weeks ago. Due to contusions of my hip and my shoulder, I just began to swim and run again one week ago, so I have to gamble on my bike split. All participants can expect a well organized race, that’s why I don’t want to miss my start.”

Domenico Passuello: “Really happy to race in Asia-Philippines the triathlon is growing a lot here and I want to enjoy the warm weather that I don't have in Europe. Challenge Philippines suits perfectly for me for the hard bike and run segments so I hope to have a great result, I prefer hard race that tactical ones, I’m always strong in events where conditions are hard. My training in cold Europe was stranger cause the weather so I can't really understand if I’m totally in fit or not but I’m confident about my ability but of course everything depends also of my rivals.” — Domenico Passuello:
“Really happy to race in Asia-Philippines the triathlon is growing a lot here and I want to enjoy the warm weather that I don’t have in Europe. Challenge Philippines suits perfectly for me for the hard bike and run segments so I hope to have a great result, I prefer hard race that tactical ones, I’m always strong in events where conditions are hard. My training in cold Europe was stranger cause the weather so I can’t really understand if I’m totally in fit or not but I’m confident about my ability but of course everything depends also of my rivals.”

Eneko Elosegui: “I love racing in Asia and love the heat. But this time coming from snowy Basque country is going to be hard. My goal is to give everything i have that day.And see where my fitness is, plus have some racing and training in the heat for ironman taiwan and challenge taiwan in April. Also looking forward to enjoy Subic as much as possible! Raced last year and I loved it!” – Photo by David Sun

Parys Edwards, the 2014 Laguna Phuket Triathlon Champion, is aiming a double victory — Parys Edwards: “My season has started well with a podium place at the SA70.3 and I’m hoping to build on this performance. I enjoy racing in the heat and on hilly, technical courses and this race provides both, so I’m very much looking forward to Challenge Philippines Half.”

Kelly H Williamson: “I’m really excited to kick off the season with Challenge Philippines; from what I’ve heard it’s a very tough course, which is just how I like them. Also coming from Texas, I love to race in the heat. Additionally it will be really cool to get to travel to a new part of the world with my husband and get to do what I love (get out and compete) in a beautiful place; with this also being my first Challenge event, I’m stoked to see the event presentation. I’ve heard nothing but amazing things about the Challenge staff and organization.”

Carole Fusch: “As my opening race for the 2015 season, Challenge Philippines should give me the kick start allowing me to position myself at the Asian level. This will be the time to assess performances in the 3 disciplines and after considering the race course, I would be satisfied with an overall time under 5h.” — Carole Fusch:
“As my opening race for the 2015 season, Challenge Philippines should give me the kick start allowing me to position myself at the Asian level. This will be the time to assess performances in the 3 disciplines and after considering the race course, I would be satisfied with an overall time under 5h.”

Monica Torres: “Excited to take on Challenge Philippines again and try to beat my time from last year. I expect most people doing it for their second try will have a good chance at getting a new PR on this course, as the bike route has been slightly modified and the roads are in much better conditions. The hills are still as steep, though, so it will still definitely be a CHALLENGE. And looking forward to finishing the race in the beautiful, hilly but shady run in the forest!” — Monica Torres:
“Excited to take on Challenge Philippines again and try to beat my time from last year. I expect most people doing it for their second try will have a good chance at getting a new PR on this course, as the bike route has been slightly modified and the roads are in much better conditions. The hills are still as steep, though, so it will still definitely be a CHALLENGE. And looking forward to finishing the race in the beautiful, hilly but shady run in the forest!”

Complete Start List and Prize Purse Break down – Pro athletes

MALE PRO
Croneberg, Fredrik	Male	SWE
Elosegui, Eneko	Male	ESP
Fleischmann, Brian	Male	USA
Lo, Ivan	Male	HKG
McCormack, Chris	Male	AUS
Murphy, Michael	Male	AUS
Passuello, Domenico	Male	ITA
Petraeus, Rasmus	Male	DEN
Robbins, Mitch	Male	AUS
Schlagbauer, Christoph	Male	AUT
Schramm, Till	Male	DEU
Watson, Eric	Male	AUS

FEMALE PRO
Edwards, Parys	Female	GBR
Fuchs, Carole	Female	THA
Pooley, Emma	Female	GBR
Puszka, Stef	Female	AUS
Rabe, Katja	Female	DEU
Rundqvist, Louise	Female	SWE
Williamson, Kelly	Female	USA

Prize Purse

Men	Women
1st – 5,000 EUROS	1st – 5,000 EUROS
2nd – 2,500 EUROS	2nd – 2,500 EUROS
3rd – 1,550 EUROS	3rd – 1,550 EUROS
4th – 1,000 EUROS	4th – 1,000 EUROS
5th – 750 EUROS	5th – 750 EUROS
6th – 500 EUROS	6th – 500 EUROS
7th – 450 EUROS	7th – 450 EUROS
8th – 350 EUROS	8th – 350 EUROS
9th – 250 EUROS	9th – 250 EUROS
10th – 150 EUROS	10th – 150 EUROS