Any triathlete, seasoned or amateur, knows doing swim, bike, and run in a series is no easy feat. One has to clock in hours and kilometers of training for months in preparation for the race. Imagine doing double the training for paratriathletes.
While Filipino triathletes are making waves in the sport in Asia as seen in the most recent SEA Games, equally gaining traction are Filipino triathletes who have recently bagged podium positions in the 2015 Asian Triathlon Confederation (ASTC) Paratriathlon Championships. Sixto Ducay, Andy Avellana, and Arnel Aba were among the Filipino paratriathletes who represented the Philippines, placing 2nd in the PT4 category, and 2nd and 3rd in the PT2 category, respectively.
“Triathlon gave me a new hope in sports because in this industry, more and more younger athletes are emerging, but here I am, given the opportunity to still do what I love doing,” shared Ducay, 47 years old, and has been racing with an impaired left arm. He is the only Filipino triathlete qualified in the World Paratriathlon series in Edmonton, Canada, and the Chicago Paratriathlon.
Ducay finished the race at 1:17:30 next to Keiichi Sato of Japan, who was the 4th overall winner in the recent Yokohama Paratriathlon Championships. All paratriathletes raced a distance of 750m in the swim leg, 18 km in the bike leg, and 5 km in the run leg.
Supporter and partner to these paratriathletes is top imaging and printing brand, Canon. Canon Marketing Philippines, Inc. (CMPI) has captured the grit and determination of the paratriathletes who competed during the ASTC Asian ParaTriathlon Championships 2015.
“We have been supporting the Philippine National Paratriathlon Team for two years now because we believe in their passion to succeed in the sport despite the obvious challenges they bear physically,” said CMPI’s President, Lim Kok Hin. “At Canon, we help draw out clear and crisp images of success that inspire Filipino individuals, families, and communities.”
Vince Garcia, coach of the national team, expressed the importance of the support such as what Canon gives to the team to help them reach their goals of representing the country in different triathlons. “We need to support these guys. Like right now, the only way to get the rest of the team to really garner points is to throw in support to them to all races that we can find, and it’s not cheap. If people can help them, that would be really great.” He said that his ultimate goal for the Philippine team is to send a representative to the upcoming Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. “That would be the pinnacle of our existence here and it’s the ultimate dream of any athlete—to be able to join where the best of the best are.”
