Gaviola, Veloria swiftest among men

Gaviola

A wire-to-wire win in duathlon happens when you pair one of the fastest runners with one of the swiftest cyclists.

Such was the case in the men’s division of the 6th Saipan Duathlon last Saturday from Banzai Cliff in Marpi where Sildrey Veloria and Renren Gaviola finished first with plenty to spare.

Named D’Strikers, Veloria and Gaviola completed the 5-kilometer run, 20-km bike, and 2.5-km run in a time of 1:04:31.

Their time was a full 3 minutes and change ahead of second-placer Resm Hail Mary, made up of Jason Cao and Cesar Fortaleza, who crossed the finish line in 1:07.48. Completing the Top 3 were Jalen Lucido and Jomer Enriquez’s Just-4-Fun who came in at 1:09:30.

Veloria, a 19-year-old freshman at Northern Marianas College, was so excited to take part in his first duathlon that he almost overexerted himself at the start of the race.

Veloria

“It was easy at first and I thought I went too hard. I thought people were at the back of me and I said ‘oh I was ahead.’ It was still the halfway point and I was confident enough to make sure I was like first and stuff.”

He credited Run Saipan president Edward Dela Cruz Jr. for the training he’s been doing the past year that improved his running time.

“All that training from Edward…I give credit to him and all that hard work, blood, sweat, and tears paid off in this run. I hope to challenge more runners in these kinds of runs.”

Gaviola, a 22-year-old native of Bohol, Philippines, said save for the ban on drafting and the strong headwind coming back to Banzai Cliff, his ride went off without a hitch. 

“You cannot draft for each other in the bike so I just maintained my speed to control the pace and keep my lead. The first part of the race was so windy as the headwind was very strong going back to Marpi. I always had trust on my teammate, my runner Sildrey,” he said in Filipino.

The results of the women’s, and mixed relay divisions of TRAC’s 6th Saipan Duathlon will be published in the following issues of Saipan Tribune.

Proceeds from TRAC’s 6th Saipan Duathlon will go to the sport federation’s preparations for the triathlon event of this year’s Northern Marianas Pacific Mini Games 2022 that the CNMI will be hosting for the very first time.

The 6th Saipan Duathlon was sponsored by IT&E.