Singapore International Triathlon kicks off last Sunday

The Singapore International Triathlon took place last Sunday with a diverse mix of athletes from 42 different nationalities, including Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, The Philippines and Thailand taking part in the event.

Due to an oil spill, there were concerns about the water quality and the sea was deemed as not safe for swimming, so the triathlon was converted to a Duathlon format of run-bike-run.

Said Elvin Ting, Founder of Tri-Factor and official event delivery partner, “We are incredibly grateful to our team and participants for adapting to the revised Duathlon format. Executing the event safely with less than 49 hours from the decision to gun start was a true team effort.”

Over 800 athletes competed across five categories, including Singaporean Joseph Ong, 75, who completed the Sprint distance of 2.5km run – 18km bike – 2.5km run in 01:32:00.

Emerging as the winner in the Southeast Asia Triathlon Federation Championship category was Ronald Setiawan from Indonesia who finished the 5km run – 30km bike – 5km run in 57 mins 08 sec. Andrew Kim Remolino from Philippines came second in 57 min 21 sec and in third place was also a Filipino, Matthew Hermosa, in 57 min 24 sec.

For the women’s category, Esther Joy Chen of Malaysia took the crown in 01:05:02. Coming second was Herlene Yu from Singapore in 01:05:30 and rounding off the podium was fellow Singaporean Kathlyn Yeo in 01:06:26.

Within the Singapore National Triathlon Championships, the top three were Luke Chua (00:57:35), Aaron Kiss (00:58:50) and Samir Varna (00:59:05) for the men, and for the women, Herlene Yu (01:05:30), Kathlyn Yeo (01:06:26) and Louisa Middleditch (01:07:18) were the top three.

Said Paul Rachmadi, President, Triathlon Association of Singapore, “We were thrilled to welcome athletes from across Southeast Asia and beyond to compete here in Singapore. It was a remarkable display of skill and perseverance, and we congratulate all the winners for their outstanding performances in this unique format.”