2016 Maybank Powerman Duathlon Pilipinas

Just one week after Foremost Ironman 70.3 Thailand I was on the start list for Maybank Powerman Duathlon Pilipinas which was going to be my last race of the year. I had just traveled back from Thailand Monday night and arrived in Manila early Tuesday morning. I stayed in Manila a couple of days due to some meetings with my sponsors and visited Peakform for a recovery treatment. Finally I only made it home one day and then drove to Clark on Friday.

I was able to check out the race course and it was fun to meet the National Duathlon Team and some of the Pros that came from overseas including Gael Le Bellec and the Duathlon Word Champions Emma Pooley and Seppe Odeyn.

As usual the day before the race we were kept busy with bike-check in and race briefing. Then it was finally race day. Together with some National Team athletes we went early to transition to get our stuff ready and to warm-up. It was cloudy and still cool and as always, I was hoping for more sun and hot weather later.

The start was on time at 6am when all elites started together. The first run was quick from the start and I was impressed about some local athletes running side by side with the foreign Pros. I stayed in the back, knowing my legs had not recovered from last Sunday’s race in Phuket yet and just tried to avoid a big gap to the front.

In T1 I had plenty of guys in front of me but was fast getting out on the bike and able to shorten the gap and catch some of them. It was only 1 loop but with a lot of turns and corners which made bike times a little slow.

When I got into T2 I wasn’t sure about my position but soon could see who was in front at the turn around. I didn’t push very hard and just wanted to make it within the Top 10 which I was very happy to achieve finishing 9th place overall in this competitive field.

All in all the Powerman was a good event and I would like to thank the organizers and Sir Raymund Magdaluyo for accommodating me. Of course, special thank you goes to all my amazing sponsors ALASKA Milk, PMI, Brooks, TYR, Gu, Salice! Thank you for all your support throughout the year!

Now looking forward to some recovery time and then getting back in shape for all the exciting races coming up in 2017!