Erico aims to make best of Cebu Ironman stint

Erico Castro left for the Philippines last Saturday where he will be competing in the 2015 Cobra Ironman 70.3 Philippines set on Aug. 2 in Mactan City, Cebu province.

Erico Castro makes a turn leading to the Sound of Music in the bike leg of this year’s XTERRA Saipan. (Jon Perez)

Castro, along with his dad Ricky took an early morning Asiana Airlines flight to Korea before taking a connecting flight to Manila. Peter Prestley is also set to compete in the Cobra Ironman.

They would be staying for almost one week in Subic in Zambales, in the central island of Luzon, which is his father’s home province. They would head to Cebu via Clark International Airport in Pampanga this weekend.

This would be Castro’s second time to join a Half Ironman distance—composed of a 1.9-kilometer swim, 90K bike, and 21K run legs—race but first competing in an off-island event. He did the Tagaman Triathlon in March this year.

“I’ll try to see new places in Subic and continue my training there. I’ll try to join if there’s any local races there,” said Castro in an interview with Saipan Tribune.

“I’ve joined a lot of racing events but honestly, I’m feeling kind of nervous like it was my first time,” added the incoming senior at Mt. Carmel School.

Castro said that more than 2,000 participants would be joining the racing event in Cebu, where Filipino celebrities Kim Atienza and Matteo Guidicelli are expected to compete.

“I’m not expecting anything in this race but I would like to improve on my time in the Tagaman, my first Half Ironman event,” Castro added.

The 17-year-old finished with a combined time of 6:35:34 in this year’s Tagaman. He had 42:04 swim, logged in 2:59:01 in the bike, before wrapping up his campaign with a time of 2:54:29 in the run leg.

Castro said he’d be busy in the last quarter of the year as he plans to join the Tour de Guam in November and the Hell of the Marianas in December. “Of course I‘ll do the XTERRA and Tagaman again next year.”

He said that triathlon became addicting to him where he slowly transitioned from riding the bike to doing the multi sport event.

“I like to challenge myself and try something new. Yes, it is tiring but also fun to do the whole thing. I did Taga Kids before and also tried shorter distance triathlon courses,” Castro added.

The Cobra Ironman offers 40 qualifying slots to the 2016 Ironman 70.3 World Championships in Mooloolaba, Sunshine Coast, Australia.