MOIRA Frances Erediano is terrified of sea urchins.
Ironically, though, it was because of these spiny, globular sea creatures that the multi-titled Cebuana junior triathlete pulled off a wire-to-wire victory in the sprint category of the Dumaguete City Triathlon held last November 18 in Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental.
Erediano finished the race in one hour, 17 minutes and 34 seconds. She was the fastest swimmer in the women’s sprint distance category, finishing in 13 minutes and eight seconds.
This helped her break away from the pack and cruise to the easy win.
She has the sea urchins to thank for the win.
In a lengthy post in her Facebook account, the 14-year-old Erediano narrated her experience in the Dumaguete race.
“Someone told me that I am a chaser, simply because I am not a fast swimmer and I usually win races by chasing and overtaking my opponents by biking and running all the way to the finish line. But not today,” said the Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu (SHS-AdC) student in her post.
“This morning as the sun shone above me, I found myself coming out of the water ahead of the 20 strong ladies in the sprint category. I [led] the pack until the finish line. I can’t blame the sea urchins, which scares me more than the horror movies, lying in the seabed waiting for my feet to touch [them]. I was scared to death just by seeing [them], and I mean hundreds of them (in my mind). So, I swam with all my might just to reach the shore as fast as I could.”
With the kind of performance she pulled off, Erediano came up with an interesting idea to improve her swimming skills.
“From now on I will try to train in the pool filled with sea urchins to improve my speed,” Erediano said jokingly.
Trailing Erediano, who represented Organique Acai Tri Team, were Victorias Tri Team’s Maria Loryne Lencioco (1:18.04) and Aisha Cuartela (1:36.02) of Tri Hilera, respectively.
The sprint distance that featured a 750m swim, 20k bike, and 5k run.
Erediano added that the Dumaguete race was one of the best she has competed in.
“Seriously, this race is one of the best so far. Very organized … everything is well taken care of.”
Fellow Cebuano triathlete Renz Wynn Corbin (1:08.32) of Team Talisay Luigi Triathlon Group (TLTG) topped the male sprint distance while teammate Charles Lipura (1:08.52) settled for second. Eryk John Omandam (1:11.11) rounded off the top three.
Andrew Kim Remolino (2:10.10) of team TLTG topped the male overall standard division while Black Arrow Express’ Alexandra Ganzon (2:30.59) ruled the distaff side.
The standard distance has a 1.5-kilometer swim, 40k bike, and 10k run.