TO make an immediate impact on its first-ever triathlon hosting and at the same time make the race memorable, Dapitan City is putting up a P500,000 purse for the overall winner of the 5150 Triathlon Dapitan slated Sept. 10.
The Shrine City of the Philippines is exerting all its efforts and pooling its resources to guarantee a successful staging of its initial foray in hosting big-time endurance racing with Mayor Seth “Bullet” Jalosjos and the entire Dapitan City community thrilled over welcoming the leading triathletes and rising stars of the ever-growing sport.
“The overall winner of the main race will get P500,000,” said Jalosjos during an online press conference yesterday.
Putting the 1.5-kilometer swim, 40km bike and 10km run race in Dapitan City isn’t only a breakthrough but also historic with Jalosjos expecting the event to draw the veteran and upcoming triathletes here and abroad.
The 5150 Dapitan’s success will also play a key role on the city’s plans to host the IRONMAN 70.3 in the future.
“The ultimate goal is the IRONMAN 70.3. We’ll just get our feet wet with the 5150 Dapitan and hope in the near future, we’ll get that chance,” stressed Jalosjos.
Additional prizes of P50,000 and P30,000 will also be awarded to the Olympic and Sprint winners, respectively, of Lipi ng Rizal (best team award), P10,000 each to the recipient of Fuertos Juntos (relay) and P50,000 to the Liga ng Rizal awardee (team with most members).
The top three Bagong Bayani winners, or Filipino elites, will also get P40,000, P30,000 and P10,000, respectively.
Spicing up the 5150 Dapitan is the Go for Gold Sunrise Sprint, featuring 750m open-water swim, 20km bike ride and a 5km run, with the Noli Run, a 3km fun run will usher in the main event on Sept. 9.
“We told ourselves, we want to also promote sports tourism and encourage people to travel over the Philippines and Dapitan is one of those places,” said Galura.
Gracing the press launch were reigning Subic IRONMAN 70.3 champion John Alcala, race director Ani de Leon-Brown, and national triathlon star Kim Mangrobang, who was in Mexico.
Galura added that they are expecting around 500 participants but may open it up for more people to get to see history in Dapitan.
“We will obviously increase it. We want many people to experience Dapitan,” she said.
