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Traditional ASIAN triathlon heavyweights Japan and Hong Kong split top honors in the open elite division Sunday at the ASTC-Subic Bay Asian Cup as Ryosuke Maeda of Japan, ranked in the Top 10 back home, ruled the men’s elite race in 1:53.59 and Hong Kong’s top triathlete Yan Yin Hilda Choi won the female elite category in 2:10.02.
Maeda admitted he had a hard time coping with the heat and the warm water temperature in the swim leg.
“But I really expected to win today,” said Maeda after the race that started at the ACEA beach resort and finished at the oval track of Remy Field.
Choi, on the other hand, said: “It was a nice race, good swim and I had a good bike pack with Claire setting the pace which helped us a lot.”
The HK lass was referring to Filipina Claire Adorna who set the pace in swimming and cycling before fading to eighth place, dropping from the lead pack in the run leg.
Korean Ji Hwan Kim finished second behind Maeda with a time of 1: 54.44 while another Japanese, Kotaro Watanabe, took third place in 1:55.59.
Rounding out the top five finishers were Korean Seung Hun Seo (1: 56.39) and Japanese Genta Uchida (1:56.45).
The top duo from the Philippines John Chicano and Nikko Huelgas failed to crack the top 10. In the women’s race, Filipina Kim Mangrobang finished 5th.
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