Coggins, Zhong rule SuBIT Asian Cup

SUBIC, ZAMBALES -- Hong Kong’s Oscar Coggins and China’s Zhong Mengying topped their respective divisions on Sunday in the 2019 NTT ASTC Subic Bay International Triathlon (SuBIT) Asian Cup at the Subic Bay Freeport Zone here.

The 19-year-old Coggins, who was born and raised in Hong Kong by his British parents, clocked 1:49:20 to win the gold medal in the 1.5km swim-40-km bike-10km run tournament organized by the Triathlon Association of the Philippines (TRAP).

Coggins, who is ranked No. 1 in Hong Kong, endured the hot weather to win the title after a fifth-place finish last year. He won the juniors category in 2017.

After Subic, the 6-foot-2 Coggins will join the Asian Championships in South Korea in June.

“He is focused on qualifying in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. The next six weeks will be spent training for the Asian Championships,” said triathlete Andrew Wright, Coggins’ personal coach.

Japanese Jumpei Furuyama, the 2018 Asian Games gold medalist, registered 1:49:30 to claim the silver medal while his compatriot, Takumi Hojo took the bronze medal with a time of 1:49:45.

Four other Japanese made it to Top 10. They are Shiruba Taniguchi (fourth, 1:50:11), Yuichi Hosoda (fifth, 1:50:36), Shogo Ishitsuka (sixth, 1:50:39) and Aoba Yasumatsu (eighth, 1:51:49).

Andrew Remolino was the best performing local after finishing 15th with a time of 1:54:49, while John Chicano was 25th with a time of 1:58:22.

Meanwhile, Zhong dominated the women’s side with a time of 2:04:17. Japan’s Aoi Kuramoto (2:04:41) and Yurie Kato (2:05:32) got the silver and bronze medals, respectively.

Filipino-American Kim Kilgroe finished 12th while Ma. Claire Adorna was 15th.

“I am happy for winning this tournament,” said the 29-year-old Zhong, who won the silver medal at the 2018 Asian Games in Indonesia, who spoke through an interpreter.

TRAP president Tom Carrasco was satisfied with the turnout of participants, taking note of the 150 entries in the elite category.

Hong Kong has 33 entries spread over the elite, juniors and super sprint distance categories. Chinese Taipei has 18 followed by South Korea (16), Japan (14), Macao (10), Singapore (nine), China (six) and Thailand (four).

“The competition is quite tough, we have the Asian Games medalists as participants,” said Carrasco, who awarded the medals during the medal ceremony.

The 2019 NTT ASTC Subic Bay International Triathlon (SuBIT) Asian Cup is the first leg of the One Belt One Road Triathlon series. The second leg will be in Lianyungang to be followed by the third leg in Jianyuguan, both in China. (PNA)

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