After she was not allowed to compete in the 6-kilometer distance last year due to age restrictions, Raven Faith Alcoseba, made the most of her debut this year by bagging the 6K competitive female title of the 11th Olango Challenge held yesterday at the Pacific Cebu Resort in Lapu-Lapu City.
“It was an unexpected win and very tiring,” said the 15-year-old tanker who used to hand Cebu with multiple medals before she transferred to La Salle in Manila two years ago.
Alcoseba had a very dominating performance by posting an almost four-minute gap on Karen Indaya, who have won the same title twice. She clocked one hour, 33 minutes and 13.87 seconds while Indaya finished the race with a time of 1:36:58.37.
Alcoseba said that she had not trained specifically for the race because she normally trains every day. She just came from winning a gold and a silver in the relay events representing the National Capital Region in the recently held Palarong Pambansa in Vigan, Ilocos Sur.
Finishing at third place was Erica Lukang, a former Palaro standout, who finished the race in 1:37:59.88.
The new 6K competitive male winner was Jux Keaton Solita of the University of Santo Tomas (UST) who engaged in a three-way neck-to-neck battle with fellow swimmers from Manila.
Solita managed to put a gap of more than a minute on his closest pursuer Ron Villamor of Malabon to hold aloft the title vacated by topnotch swimmer Andrew Kim Remolino who instead of gunning for a grandslam this year opted to continue with his triathlon training in Malaysia.
Solita clocked 1:23:15.56 while Villamor settled for second place with his time of 1:24:17.69. Third place went to Solita’s UST teammate Allen Miranda who clocked 1:24:30.60.
The 6K fun mixed had Kevin Alvarez in the first place with 2:00:29 while second place was copped by Juan Antonio Aboitiz, chairman of the Visayas Executive Committee of the Philippine Business for Social Progress, which is organizing the event.
The 3K male title was bagged by Charles Jeremiah Lipura of the Talisay Luigi Triathlon Group (TLTG) who clocked 53:33.02. Finishing second and third respectively were Rafael Laciera (1:02:36.19) and Clarence Gabunada (1:03:09.33).
The distaff side was ruled by Justine Garrido who finished the race with a time of 1:02:46.28 while trailing her at second was Micah dela Serna (1:06:50.76) and at third was Patricia Solima (1:30:20.33).
The 3K fun mixed category had Renz Wynn Corbin, also of TLTG, at the top with 53:49.02 followed by Danica Ronquillo (1:11:59.04) and Cleevan Alegre (1:21:25).
Going home with the 1K fun mixed title was Trina Cañeda (17:44.27) trailed by Gian Ylaya (21:30.80) and Socrates Larumbe (25:19.82).