13^th Asian Triathlon Championships, Subic Bay, Philippines

The 13^th Asian Triathlon Championships were held in Subic Bay, Philippines on the 3^rd and 4^th of April 2004.    Because it is an Olympic Year, these Championships were held much earlier than usual and were also doubled as an Olympic selection event for Asian Triathletes.

A perfect morning for the 13th Asian Triathlon Championships, Subic Bay
 

A team of 6 athletes represented India at these Championships looking to continue the build up of Indian Triathlon that has been underway for the past 2 ½ years under National Coach Brett Mace.

Kavya finishes 6th in 13th Junior Asian Triathlon Championship, Subic Bay
 

Subic Bay is one of the best Triathlon venues in Asia and the course has been developed over a number years by the Philippine Triathlon Federation and the course for this Championship was well prepared and an provided some excellent racing in all categories over the 2 days.

Mani Singh finishes 4th in Juniors at 13th Asian triathlon Championships in Subic Bay

On the Saturday the Championships kicked of with the Elite U/23 event held over the Olympic Distance of 1.5km swim, 40km cycle and 10km run.    India was represented in the Men’s event by Mahesh Shinde.    After a good swim which saw Mahesh exit the water with the leading group, Mahesh couldn’t quite get it together on the bike and dropped back a number of places but had a scintillating run and posted the quickest run of the day (34.06) to finish in 2 hours 2 minutes 18 seconds in 4^th position missing a bronze medal by just 11 seconds.

Syed Jabir finishes a close 6th in Junior Asian Triathlon Championship
 

On Sunday it was the Juniors turn and here India was represented by S. Mani Singh and Syed Jabir in the Boys, and T.S Kavya, S. Kanthamani and Sneha Shampur in the Girls.

The Boy’s race was 1^st up and here Mani Singh and Syed Jabir were out of the water just after the leading group, but steadily built their races over the cycle leg and then really turned it on in the run leg, with Mani Singh running into 4^th position and Syed Jabir just narrowly finishing behind in 6^th place to give the Indian Men’s Team it’s best performance ever at an Asian Championship.   The future looks particularly bright with Mani Singh just recently turning16 years old and he has quite a number of years in which to develop.

The Junior Womens Team pre race at 2004 Asian Championshionships , Subic Bay
 

In the Girl’s event, T.S Kavya continued her rise up the rankings and showed why she is India’s leading Female Triathlete with another strong performance mainly on the bike and run to finish in 6^th place.   This was a good performance given that there was only 2 minutes separating 1^st to 6^th positions.   Sneha Shampur finished in 10^th position while S. Kanthamani finished 17^th, but this was enough to give the Junior Girls Team another bronze medal in addition to the bronze medal won in Chennai.

Junior Asian Teams Triathlon Championship Bronze Medalists in Subic Bay
 

The Asian Championships in Subic Bay was India’s best all round performance at an Asian Championship ever with 4 of its athletes finishing in the top 6.    It is these 4 athletes from the Indian Triathlon Academy, Mahesh Shinde, S. Mani Singh, Syed Jabir and T.S Kavya that are leading the way for India to continue to work its way up the Asian Rankings and gives Indian Triathlon a strong platform for the future.