Fresh from its domination of the sprint events a day earlier, powerhouse Hong Kong found the men’s and women’s elite field in the 26th edition of the 2019 NTT ASTC Subic Bay International Triathlon (SuBIT) Asian Cup, a tougher nut to crack and had to settle for a share of the day’s glory with HK winning the men’s side and China ruling the distaff side yesterday at the Subic Bay Freeport Zone.
HK’s Oscar Coggins, now campaigning in the men’s elite from the junior ranks, took advantage of his familiarity with hot weather racing conditions, took first place in 1:49.20 , repulsing the challenge of the feared Japanese team that took the next 5 slots after Coggins with reigning Asian Games champion and top seed Jumpei Furuya settling for a very close second place in 1:49.30 while Takumi Hojo placed 3rd in 1:49.45. Rounding out the top 5 finishers were Shiruba Taniguchi in 1:50.11 and Yuichi Hosoda in 1:50.36.
“I like the hot weather, I have been training in Australia the past two months, but I really did not ease up until the finish line. I am happy with my time,” said Coggins who took the lead at the 6K mark and steadily pulled away from the rest.
Another surprise was in the local side where 19 year old Cebuano Andrew Remolino upstaged his older and more experienced national teammates with a 17th place finish in 1:54.49, his first sub two hour race which makes him a contender for a berth to the Southeast Asian Games.