SUBIC — Kim Marongbang remains the queen of Southeast Asian triathlon.
The 28-year-old outdid her performance in Kuala Lumpur two years ago, taking the 2019 Southeast Asian Games Women’s Triathlon event, Sunday at the Subic Bay Boardwalk here.
Mangrobang’s previous time was 2:11:14 back in 2017. This time around, she clocked in at 2:02:00.
She registered a time of 21:38 in the swim part, 1:03:36 on the bike, and 35:43 during the run.
Kim Kilgroe made sure that it would be another 1-2 finish for the home team, clocking in at 2:05:02.
Mangrobang and Kilgroe were neck and neck heading into the run part, but the latter was three minutes and two seconds slower.
“Kinkabahan ako sa bike kasi nachachallenge lagi sa bike and usually alam kong konti lang kami ditto, alam ko kailangan ko magwork para makasabit,” said Mangrobang.
Indonesia’s Octaria Nethavani finished this with a time of 2:16:53.
With this done, Mangrobang shifts her focus to making it to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
“Tinatry natin magqualify sa Olympics para sa first Filipino triathlete, so gagawin naming yun lahat, sa January babalik na ko sa Portugal para magtraining, sa February magstastart na ko magraise ng World Cup series,” she said.