Bitbit, bronze medalist in the 2003 Vietnam Sea Games, was the best placed Southeast Asian female rider in MTB’s crosscountry at sixth place with a clocking one hour, 54 minutes and 29 seconds.
Her closest SEA Games rivals finished more than four minutes behind — Thailand’s Siraporn Chantarut (1:58.36) at eighth and Chindarat Pornbanchoedkul (2:02.51) ninth and Indonesia’s Kusmawati Yazid (1:44:19) 10th.
The Danao City-based Surban, silver medalist in juniors crosscountry in the 2004 Asians in Puerto Princesa City, also nosed out the other SEA Games riders — except Thailand’s Tawatchai Masae who was seventh with 2:13:41—with a clocking of 2:15:07 that was good for eighth place.
Bandi Sugito (2:15:37) and Dadi Nurcahyadi both of Indonesia (2:16:16) were ninth and 10th. Frederick Feliciano (2:17:33) and Eusebio Quinones (2:18:33) figured in a crash and finished 11th and 12th ahead of Thai Seree Ruangsiri (2:19:34). Quinones won the gold and Quinones the bronze also in 2003 in Vietnam.
The Philippine Sports Commission, PhilCycling head Bert Lina and Danao City’s Oscar Rodriguez Jr., the only Filipino MTB international commissaire, supported the riders participation in Bali. They were accompanied by MTB coach Renato Mier.
China was dominating in both men and women crosscountry. Chengyuan Ren China (1:38:28), Xiaoning Gao China (1:40:19) and Jingjing Wang China (1:41:19) made it 1-2-3 for the Chinese in the women’s race, while Xueli Jiang (2:11:19) dominated the men’s.
Rounding out the women’s top 10 were Sheju Mei (China, 1:47:06), Rie Katayama (Japan, 1:51:43), Bitbit, Kaoru Fukai (Japan, 1:57.28), Chantarut, Pornbanchoedkul and Yazid.
In the men’s, Hiroki Irokawa of Japan bagged the silver medal in 2:11:56 while Yakolev Yevgeniy of Kazakhstan took the bronze in 2:12:19. The men’s top 10 were Keiichi Tsujiura (Japan, 2:12:44), Kohei Yamamoto (Japan, 2:13:07), Chun Hing Chan (Hong Kong, 2:13:28), Masae, Surban, Sugito and Nurcahyadi.
Cycling’s mountain bike races – crosscountry and downhill – will be staged in Danao City, Cebu.
