3rd Hunat Sugbo Triathlon Set in Argao, Cebu on Sept. 20

The Hunat Sugbo Triathlon will return to Argao town in southern Cebu for its third edition on Sept. 20.

Officials of Argao, some 69 kilometers southeast of Cebu City, were satisfied with how the race was conducted last year that organizers, the Cebu Parklane International Hotel, decided to hold another one this year.

The triathlon events of Cebu Parklane International Hotel in Cebu City are part of their effort to help boost countryside tourism, especially the southern part of Cebu.

“The local government of Argao gave us their full support last year. This is another round for Argao to expose their products during the event,” said Cenelyn Manguilimotan, Cebu Parklane International Hotel general manager.

The town of Argao is known for its local delicacies such as the torta de Argao, “tableya” or locally made chocolate and tuba or fermented coconut wine.

There are adventure activities as well like cable car ride, zipline and canopy walk hanging bridge, among others.

The coming race will be the second edition in Argao and third triathlon race for the organizers. Their first race was held in Oslob in 2013.

“The triathlon event had a huge impact on our tourism industry last year, it really created an economic impact to our municipality,” Argao Mayor Edsel Galeos said.

“We requested the organizers to bring back the event in Argao this year because it has really helped in our tourism,” Galeos said.

“If only it could be held in Argao every year, we are very willing to accept that. There are many sports enthusiasts asking me when the event is coming back,” he said.

Manguilimotan said that by doing sports tourism, it helps promote the place and could be a long-term help for the community.

The race will feature the standard, sprint, relay and team challenge.

The standard distance will cover 1.5-kilometer swim, 40K bike and 10K run.

The sprint is 750-meter swim, 20K bike and 5K run while the relay distance is the same of the standard race.

The age group categories for the standard distance will be the men’s 29 & Under, 30 to 39 years old, 40 to 49 years old and 50 & Above, the women’s will be the 29 & Under, 30 to 39 years old and 40 & Above.

Likewise in the sprint distance, it only added the men’s and women’s 19 years old & Under.

The relay, on the other hand, will require any mix of gender of two to three members.

Robert Martinez, the team manager of Parklane Tri-team said there are 400 slots available for this race.

He said they are hopeful to reach this target number.

“The Ironman will be on Aug. 2 and the Argao event will be more than a month after. I think that is enough time for triathletes to recover and race again,” Martinez said.

The representative of Repro Optima Tri-Team John Inot said their team is joining Ironman 70.3 Philippines and will also join the Argao Triathlon as a follow up and recovery race.

The top three in the standard distance will get medals and PHP7,000 cash for the champion, PHP5,000 for the second placer and PHP3,000 for the third placer.

Medals will be given on the top triathletes in their age groups, in the sprint distance and relay.

Registration fee is at PHP2,500 each for the standard and sprint distance and PHP2,300 for the relay event. Online registration is ongoing at www.hunatsugbu.com. (PNA) LAP/EB/MP/SSC