Triathlon Events were a Success in Cuba

HAVANA, Cuba, Jan 26 (acn) The America Cup and the Latin American Triathlon Championships successfully completed their activities after two days of competition on the roads of Havana.

Just as expected, the event went smoothly developed in Cuba's capital city, which hosted the competition for the first time, and will be one of its official venues for the next three years, until 2018.

The most demanding events of the contest finished yesterday, the medium (1.9 km of swimming, 90 km of cycling and 21.1 km of running ) and long distance ( 3.8 km-180 km- 42.2 km) , the winners were awarded with works by known local artists such as Nelson Domínguez, Eduardo Roca "Choco", Roberto Chile, Maikel Herrera, Juan Moreira, Alicia Leal and Alexis Leyva "Kcho".

Among women the leaders were the American Kathleen Smith, with time of 12:53.12 hours, followed by Mexican Tabata Carrasco (13:24.24) and Spanish Alicia Garcia (14:34.57), in that order.

Meanwhile, the men's event was won by Argentine Juan Manuel Asconape (10:41.19), escorted by Costa Rican Héctor Fonseca (10:46.20) and the local Raúl Alcolea (10:55.13).

Also, in the medium distance there were no surprises and Spanish Marcel Zamora won the title, when crossing the finish line in 4: 20.56 h, escorted on the podium awards by Costa Rica´s Ernesto Espinoza (4: 37.57) and the Guatemalan Andres Fonseca (4: 43.31), in that order.

Zamora , five times winner of the Ironman circuit in the phases of Monaco (2006-2007) and France (2006-2007-2008) , said he hopes to return next year, since he enjoyed the competition and the care provided was superb.

In the women's event the winner was the French Mathilde Batailler with time of 5: 16.03 h, leaving thus behind the Costa Rican Mauren Solano (5: 21.20), silver medalist, and Brazilian Graciella Renzzo (5: 28.32), who finished third.

This Saturday, meanwhile, the Sprint events corresponding to the America Cup were won by American Renee Tomlin and Mexican Rodrigo Gonzalez among women and men respectively.

This contest, which awarded ranking points for qualifying for the continental event to be held next July, in Toronto, Canada and the Olympics of Rio de Janeiro 2016, Cubans Lisandra Hernandez and Michel Gonzalez achieved the best result by finishing fourth and sixth, consecutively.

The closing ceremony was attended by Marisol Casado, president of the International Triathlon Union, Antonio Becali, head of INDER and René González, Hero of the Republic of Cuba, among others.