She did it again. Fifteen-year old Cebuana triathlon phenom Aaliyah Ricci Mataragnon debuted in the Standard distance of a triathlon race with a bang after winning the women’s crown and helping Parklane Tri Team captured the Team title in yesterday’s final leg of the 2015 Tri Team Series Championships in Dalaguete town, south Cebu.
Mataragnon who recently clinched back-to-back wins in the second Cebu City Triathlon, showed another dominant form yesterday by winning the gold in two hours, 34 minutes and 55 seconds besting veterans Cianyl Jamae Gonzales (2:37.52) and Hannah Lou Galo (2:54.43).
No one expected Mataragnon to pull off the lopsided victory since it was her first time to vie in the grueling Standard distance aside from being a late recruit by Parklane Tri Team, said her father/coach Richie Mataragnon. “We never expected that but again she showed her potential and lived up to everyone’s expectation despite the lack of preparation,” said the elder Mataragnon.
The longer Standard distance features a 1.5-kilometer swim, 40k bike and 10k run while the Sprint distance which is Mantaragnon’s forte, has a 750m swim, 20k bike and 5k run.
Meanwhile, Andrew Kim Remolino also scored his own surprising first in the Men’s Elite division by clocking 2:08.08 and beating multi-titled Kristiane Lim of Omega Pro Tri Team (2:08.44) and Ralph Arche (2:10.20).
“He just started racing for one year and thank God he’s already showing his potential in the sport. He will also compete in the CVIRAA for Talisay City next week in the swimming event,” said Remolino’s father Rolando Remolino who is also the head coach of the vaunted Talisay City Swimming squad.
Mataragnon’s win was worth 50 points helping Parklane Tri Team bag the title with a total of 452 points followed closely by Tri Lilo-an (443 points) and WS Tri Team (283 points). Parklane Tri Team was manned by Joseph Rex Gonzales, Lyh Ann Navarro and Alex Niño Silverio also won the Relay Team title in 2:12.10 followed by Tri Lilo-an (2:19.10) and Tri Lilo-an Team 2 (2:37.31).
In the Sprint distance race, Olana Nazareno and Mark Mulder emerged the fastest triathletes after crossing the finish line in 1:36.33 and 1:26.22, respectively.
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