Sports: Hundreds of Participants to Join the 2-day PNG Triathlon in Sipalay Today

While the competition proper will take place Sunday, hundreds of participants were already in Sipalay City for a two-day 2012 Philippine National Games (PNG) Triathlon.

Participants motored to the southern city of the province yesterday even until today to catch up with the registration to start at 10am and end at 4pm today.

Last April 5, 2012, more than 300 hundred participants join the competition and the organizer is expecting to break that number this time. No entry fee required for those enthusiasts to join the race and wearing of ITU elite uniform has been waived. Bibs and stickers will be provided to the participants.

The event is organized by the Philippines Sports Commission, TRAP, and the provincial government of Negros Occidental. The PNG Triathlon 2012 will serve as the National Triathlon Championships. It is open to all triathletes who would meet the age requirements. A waiver will be signed by the participants attesting to their fitness for the event.

The Provincial Tourism Office will assist Sipalay Tourism Office in the picking up of race kits and registration.

Tomorrow, May 27, the race proper will start with check in and transition will be open at 6:30 am; followed by race briefing at 7:15am, and race course closes at 7:45am followed by the race proper.

The events are sprint male, sprint female, SD female and relay, SD male and awarding at 11:00 am.

The event is open to all triathletes who will compete in their respective age bracket in standard, sprint distance, and standard distance relay categories.

Qualified to join in the standard distance are male and female 18 years old and above, who will swim 1.5 kilometers, bike 40 kilometers, and run for 10 kilometers.

Open to all 16 to 19 years old triathletes, the sprint distance category will require the participants to swim 750-meter (1 loop), bike 20 kilometers (2 loops), and run for 5 kilometers (2 loops).

For the distance relay event, each team will be composed of two or three triathletes who will negotiate a given distance in swimming, biking, and running.

Negros Occidental Gov. Alfredo Marañon Jr. cited the potential of Sipalay to host national triathlon competitions, given its first class natural coastline as he lauded the organizer of holding the said event in Sipalay City, Negros Occidental.*