Asia Triathlon

Sunday, Sept. 11. Gilberto Gonzalez from Venezuela dominated the race from start to finish under the Sun of Panamá City, becoming the Central American & Caribbean Championship. Former 1999 Panamerican games winner, and two times Olympian at Sidney and Athens, lead the swim part follow closely by Michel Gonzalez from Cuba, Leonardo Chacón from Costa Rica, Jhon Dahlz (USA), Jonathan Grady (AUS), and Leandro Lobo (VEN). They all formed a front pack that lead the bike portion by more than 1 minute, as the chase group with Micheal Realert from Germany, Ramón Ejeda from Spain and John Fredy Tibocha (COL), tried unsuccessfully to cut the lead. The heat and humidity took care of the rest with Grady (AUS) and Realert (GER) dropping out of the race on the run, and Gilberto Gonzalez cruising to a solid run to the victory stopping the clock at 1:56:59, follow by Leonardo Chacon (CRC) 30 seconds back. Ramón Ejeda from Spain, sneak into third place with the second best run of the day 15 seconds behind Chacon, passing Michel Gonzalez (CUB, 4th). Fredy Tibocha (COL) moved up to 5th, passing Brandon Marsh (USA) who finished 6th. A minute of silence was observed before the start of the race to honor Brazilian Triathlete Thiago Do Santos who passed away Thursday, Sept. 8 in Brazil from a cardiac arrest. Gonzalez dedicated the victory to Thiago who shared rooms with him at some races.

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