Oceania Triathlon

A dominant performance by Jing Hean Cheng in the swim and cycle legs allowed this 18 year old Singaporean triathlete to cruise through the final 10km run leg and take the gold medal in the South East Asian Games Men’s Triathlon held in Subic Bay this morning.

Cheng exited the water after the 1.5km swim 2 minutes in front of his nearest competitor and continued to build his lead throughout the cycle before heading out onto the run course 4 minutes ahead of lone chaser Noel Salvador from the Philippines and a chase group of 3 a further 30 seconds in arrears.

Cheng maintained this advantage throughout the run leg finishing in a time of 2 hours 58 minutes and 41 seconds.   Malaysia’s Loh Yeong Shang quickly caught Salvador in the run but could only make a small impression on Cheng, before taking the silver medal in a time of 2 hours 2 minutes 12 seconds.

The real race was for the bronze medal with Arland Macaseib from the Philippines who after passing team mate Salvador in the early kilometers, staged a gritty performance to hold Gino Ng from Singapore who closed to within 10 metres during the last 4 kilometres before Macaseib managed to secure the bronze with a strong finish over the last kilometer.

A highlight of the day was the brave effort of the 2 young triathletes from Myanmar.  In the real spirit of Triathlon, these 2 young competitors despite having never competed in a Triathlon before battled bravely to finish in front of a very appreciative crowd.