MULTISPORT newbies, enthusiasts and veteran triathletes set out for a new challenge as they showcase their skills in swimming, biking and running in the TRI-Factor Asian Championship Series firing off today and tomorrow at the CamSur Watersports Complex in Camarines Sur.
A big number of athletes, including a slew of rising and top triathletes in the region, are vying in the four-leg mass participation series composed of individual swim, bike and run events and a finale triathlon—staged to promote an active and healthy lifestyle, particularly among the youth.
The TRI-Factor has grown from organizing multisport events in Singapore to creating the premier short-course championship series across the Asian region with CamSur hosting the third leg of the Asian Series and it comes at a time when local triathlon is enjoying tremendous boom with top-notch events held regularly across the country the last few years.
Spicing up this weekend’s event is the participation of a number of celebrities, including noted triathlon campaigners Gerald Anderson, Miss Earth-Air 2016 Michelle Gomez and Rep. Pia Cayetano.
Anderson will vie in the sprint with fellow Team De Rossa mainstays. Gomez will also do the sprint in her triathlon debut, while Cayetano will join the standard triathlon.
The event, held in conjunction with the Kaogma Festival celebrations, also features a “Race to Give” project where TRI-Factor racers will get to award school supply kits to every indigenous child right after they finish the race as part of TRI-Factor’s corporate social responsibility.
Meanwhile, the host province, led by Gov. Migs Villafuerte, will welcome all the local and foreign participants today with the race kit collection set from10 a.m. to 5 p.m. tomorrow. Other activities on tap in the first day are the Community Aqua Fun Event from 3 to 4 p.m., the TRI-Factor freshmen distance triathlon from 4:30 to 6 p.m. and the TRI-Factor kids distance triathlon from 5 to 6 p.m. The awards ceremony will from 6:30 to 9 p.m.