LINGAYEN, Pangasinan – About 300 triathletes from all over the Philippines will converge here on May 13-14 to participate in the Northern Cement Corporation – organized ‘TIGASIN’ triathlon.
Sports buffs, particularly of triathlon, will witness intense sports action along major thoroughfares of the Capital town over the weekend after the 3rd edition of Tigasin reels off at the Capitol Complex, here.
Said event features .75 and 1.5km open water swimming on May 13 from 5-9AM offshore El Puerto Marina in Lingayen town; and Olympic distance triathlon (1.5km swim, 40km bike and 10km run) and sprint distance (750m swim, 30km bike and 5km run) on May 14 from 4AM to 12NN.
The public is advised on traffic re-routing in Maramba Boulevard, Alvear East St. and Avenida Rizal West St. for the duration of the sprint component of the triathlon. Swimming will be held offshore Capitol beachfront while biking will be staged mainly at the Capitol baywalk.
Provincial officials led by Governor Amado I. Espino, III are expected to grace the triathlon event’s awarding ceremonies to be held at the Provincial Training and Development Center on May 14 in the afternoon where individual and team winners will be recognized.
Fully-supported by the provincial government, the staging of another triathlon event at the Capital town manifests the provincial leadership’s aggressive efforts to promote Pangasinan as ideal venue of national sporting events.
Thought to have originated from an event called ‘les trios sports’(the tree sports) also known as ‘the race of the experts’ which took place in the 1920s in France, triathlon was included as official sporting event in the Olympic Games in 2000.
By Dexter A. See
