Mary Pauline Fornea raced to victory for a little more than half an hour. She travelled to the race for no little less than one day.
As if four bus rides were themselves triathlon stages, the young lass from Calinan made that long journey a prelude to win a tougher three-stage triathlon. And as if that is not even enough, the account of her travel is so long it would even take more time to talk about than her biggest career win yet.
Davao’s new sports heroine went through the wearying connecting trips from Davao City to Dapitan City before emerging as the top female triathlete of her classs in the Dakak National Age-Group Triathlon held in an out-and-back course at the scenic Punto del Desembarco de Rizal recently.
Fornea’s exploits were reported earlier in the Philippine Star.
The 17-year old Department of Science and Technology (DOST) scholar at UP Mindanao, clocked one hour, 34 minutes, 29 seconds to beat 18-year-old Jenefer Paloma of Cagayan de Oro City by 11 minutes.
Fonea, who swims for the UP Mindanao varsity squad, registered the fastest time in the swim leg in 12 minutes, 12 seconds. She also posted a remarkable time of 54:04 in the bike stage after completing the 750m swim, 20K bike and 5K run course in 28:13.
The Star report said that Fornea’s total clocking was even better than the 2:14:13 posted by male sprint race winner Glenn Cabunoc.
The long journey to victory started with four connecting trips from Catalunan where the Forneas reside. Along with her mother Ofelia, Fornea endured the rugged roads of Bukidnon en route to Cagayan de Oro, before stepping on another bus to Iligan, another one to Ozamiz and finally another one to Dipolog.
