Fer Casares and Kim Mangrobang fought hard before faltering to a 10th place finish in the mixed team relay duathlon of the 2022 World Games, Monday morning (Philippine time) in the Railroad Park in Birmingham, Alabama in the United States.
The pair started well with Casares keeping in step with the middle of the pack at the end of his first turn at the course with a time of 18:31 in seventh place.
Mangrobang tried to keep the pace going, but the other racers caught up to her, and, despite her good time in the final run lap of her first leg, the Philippines slipped to 11th place. Casares and Mangrobang, though, are not still not far behind.
The two put on a huge surge in their respective second runs and it was a race to the finish for the Philippines, the two Mexican teams, Japan, and Australia, who were all separated by just four seconds heading into the final run lap.
In the end, Mangrobang needed to tackle that last lap in 4:21 and a good 28 seconds behind Jazmin Aguilar of Mexico for the final placing.
The Philippines thus ended these Games with a gold medal, which was won way back in its first day, courtesy of Junna Tsukki in the women’s minus-50 kg Kumite in Karate.
