CEBUANO teams won in Cebu’s first-ever marathon distance mountainbike race dubbed Cebu Epic yesterday.
The race started at Willy’s in Busay, Cebu City. Participants pedalled to Toledo City and back to Buak in Busay for a total of 95 kilometers.
Dongkey Sanchez and teammate Manuel Pedroza of Keith DeFiebre Cycling Team, despite starting five minutes late, bagged the team trophy after finishing first in the Full Epic category, clocking six hours, six minutes and 32 seconds.
Cebu-based Team Cube, manned by Roger Niere and Gino Basirgo, finished second with a time of 6:39:14 while Team Cebu Cycling and Bikeholic’s James Kho and Louie Tanggol clocked 6:56:21 to finish third.
There was also a shorter Mini-Epic category with a distance of 54 kilometers.
Ruling the shorter race were Keith DeFiebre Cycling Team members Rhyke Armas and Melvin Codoy. The two clocked 3:20:31.
Team Lycans’ John Paul Juson and Kyle Valle, still from Cebu, settled for the second place with a time of 3:47:08.
Third placer was another Cebuano team, Team Lazer, with Ryan Pantoja and Jess Wayne Perez. They finished in 4:18: 35.
Only 75 out of 160 riders finished the race. There were participants from Surigao, Bohol, Davao, Bacolod, Dumaguete and France.
“We are overwhelmed and grateful of the support from the cycling community, our team members and sponsors,” Chyrel Gomez of the organizing Team Big Ring Race and Adventure said.