PROMISING BETS

MANAYON (CDN FILE)

Junior triathletes Moira Frances Erediano, Karen Andrea Manayon to compete in 3rd CCT

Two Batang Pinoy gold medalists will be among the noted triathletes who will be competing in the 3rd Cebu City Triathlon on Jan. 29 that starts and ends at the Cebu City Sports Center.

Moira Frances Erediano and Talisay City’s Karen Andrea Manayon, two promising junior triathletes, will be competing in the annual triathlon event that covers a distance of 750 meters for the swim leg, 20 kilometers for the bike segment and 5 kms for the run portion.

The two will be competing in the 12-15 years age group.

The 12-year-old Erediano and the 14-year-old Manayon won gold medals in the Batang Pinoy National Finals in Tagum City, Davao del Norte last November. Erediano won a gold medal in both triathlon and cycling while Manayon topped the triathlon race in her age group.

Both junior triathletes are coached by Roland Remolino.

“We have prepared [Karen] for these kinds of races. We trained her for a long time already,” Remolino said of Manayon, who also had three bronze medals in the Batang Pinoy meet.

Erediano has already been training through the holidays, according to her father, Fritz Erediano.

Fritz said his daughter is very focused on winning that she only rested for a brief time after the Batang Pinoy National Finals and resumed training under Remolino during the Christmas break.

“This will be her first long-distance race. So she trained under coach Remolino for the rest of December,” Fritz said.

The inclusion of both will be a welcome development for the race, especially since the champions in the elite category may not be back to defend their titles.

Back-to-back women’s champion Aaliyah Mataragnon has not yet decided if she would compete this year while men’s champion Paul Jumamil of the Rider Omega Pro Tri Team already backed out since he chose to race in the National Age Group Triathlon in Subic that will be held on the same day as the Cebu City Triathlon.