Ferrer, Libut top TRAC bike races

Road bike champion JC Libut is flanked by runner-up Dencio Bautista, left, and Ernie Henzon during the awards ceremony for the TRAC Bridge Capital, LLC Summer Sporstfest held last Sunday in Marpi. (Contributed Photo)

Veteran Bob Ferrer and JC Libut ruled the MTB and road bike races in TRAC Summer Sportsfest held last Sunday in Marpi.

Libut finished the 60K road bike course in 1:50:02, narrowly beating Dencio Bautista for the top spot as the latter completed the race just two seconds behind the former. Ernie Henzon rounded out the Top 3, beating Robert Tamondong in a down-to-the-wire finish at Mariana Resort, 1:50:05 to 1:50:06. Fifth placer Cesar Fortaleza came in at 1:50:08.

Other finishers in the 60K road bike race that brought riders to as far as Banzai Cliff and had participants doing the course three times were Willy Barbo (1:50:15), Jojo Valencia (1:50:22), Rommel Isidro (1:56:27), Romy Ampit (1:58:48), Alex Gozon (1:58:50), and Bobby Vargas (2:02:57).

In the 21K MTB event, Ferrer had a wider gap as he crossed the finish line at Mariana Resort at the 1:02:12 mark. He had a 24-second lead against Mark Isip, who secured the runner-up spot way ahead of Ding Ramos (1:06:04).

Six other bikers completed the 21K MTB course with Noel Valdisimo coming in at fourth with his 1:07:44 and followed by Noel Altamirano (1:14:57), Richard Asuncion (1:18:56), Floro Derexes (1:27:19), Jay Diyco (1:28:41), and Jomer Enriquez (1:32:29).

Meanwhile, a beginners bike contest (10K) also took place in the Triathlon Association of the CNMI-hosted weekend event.

In the men’s 10K, Angel Llaga came out on top after completing the course that had bikers heading to the Last Command Post and Banzai Cliff and back to Mariana Resort in 15:40. Ferdinand Ramos and Ivan Sitchon rounded out the Top 3 after posting 18:42 and 18:50, respectively.

Jan Matthew Millo (20:21), Sean Paul Dizon (23:00), Mark Jainier Chavez (25:03), Justin Loma (27:16), Jan Millo (27:28), Maximus Gabloza (29:40), and Angelo Nabaunag (37:20) were the other finishers in the men’s division.

In the women’s field, Kiana Joyce Valencia defeated six other participants in her division after timing in at 17:33. Valencia won over Casey Huliganya (18:45), Kamil Loste (25:42), Andrei Kaitlyn Chavez (25:10), Nicole Loste (25:40), Katherine Alcantara (27:30), and Kin Loste (30:30).

Besides the bike races, TRAC also held triathlon and run competitions and results will be reported later this week. The summer sporstfest was backed by Bridge Capital, LLC, Best Sunshine International, T Galleria/DFS, the Tan Siu Lin Foundation, Coca-Cola, and Powerade.