Andrew Kim Remolino emerges from the water during the swim portion of the National Age Group Triathlon (NAGT) Cebu Leg in this March 2017 photo. | CDN file
CEBU CITY, Philippines— Cebu’s top triathlete Andrew Kim Remolino looked back at the hardships he went through leading to the 31st Southeast Asian Games (SEAG) in Hanoi, Vietnam.
The 22-year-old Remolino of Talisay City is now in Vietnam along with fellow Cebuano Raven Faith Alcoseba who will be competing in her first SEA Games.
The rest of the Philippine triathlon team sent by the Triathlon Association of the Philippines (TRAP) are defending champions Marion Kim Mangrobang and John Leerams Chicano along with Lauren Plaza and Fernando Casares.
Remolino has been training rigidly for the SEA Games in Cebu, under the tutelage of his father, Roland amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Remolino told CDN Digital that it was the most challenging training camp for him because of the restrictions brought about by the pandemic.
“It has been challenging especially since we are still in a pandemic. So, a lot of training was restricted by the amount of time we can spend on a certain facility. But, we are still lucky to have been able to prepare and participate in this event. So, I guess that our preparation may not be the best but we were able to adjust and manage our training with all these restrictions,” said Remolino.
The 31st SEA Games was postponed last December after Vietnam experienced a resurgence of the COVID-19.
Aside from COVID-19, Remolino’s training also suffered a setback when typhoon Odette battered Cebu and left a swath of destruction.
“It was pretty tough for me because of all the restrictions and also we had a hard time tracking our progress with our training because we didn’t have that many races to measure our current conditions,” added Remolino.
However, Remolino along with Alcoseba persevered and continued their training amidst the challenges.
Remolino also reminisced about his 2019 SEA Games debut where he bagged the silver medal. He said he learned many important lessons in that experience which will be his advantage for the May 14 triathlon competition.
“One of the lessons that I learned during the 2019 SEA Games was to prepare all your things well and always do my sighting during the swim. It is one of the reasons that I kind of lost a bit of time during the swim because I was not doing a straight line and my goggles kept fogging so maybe I’ll keep that in mind during this SEA Games,” said the multi-titled triathlete. /rcg
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