the goan I network
PANAJI
Pablo Erat of Switzerland and Blossom Fernandez of Bengaluru won the men’s and women’s elite categories respectively at the inaugural Goa Triathlon 113 event held at the Vainguinim beach and Goa University road circuit on Sunday.
Pablo, a five-time champion of the Goa Olympic Distance Triathlon (51.5 kms), was the favourite to win the 113 kms event and did it in style with a very quick time of 4:23:33 hours.
The Swiss triathlete, who has several Ironman triathlete titles to his credit, was followed by young Pankaj Ravalu of Kolhapur who finished with a strong timing of 5:07:13 hours, while Bengaluru’s Harish Subramanian finished third in a time of 5:47:06.
In the women’s elite category, the experienced Blossom Fernandez of Bengaluru clocked an impressive 6:43:49 hours to win first place, followed by Shilpa Phadke of Pune with 7:16:21 and Hetal Tamakuwala of Surat in 8:33:02.
In the amateur category, Goa’s Akash Agarwadekar, a lifeguard with Dhristi Marine, won with an impressive timing of 5:32:06, followed by Flemingson Lazarus of Bengaluru in 6:31:41 and Sanjay Suryawanshi Ichalkaranji in 6:37:45. Likewise, Sweden’s Petra Spencer won the women’s amateur category clocking 7:11:07, followed by Neeta Narang of Nashik in 8:54:41 and Amruda Nair of Mumbai in 9:12:56.
Pankaj Ravalu of Kolhapur and Blossom Fernandez of Bengaluru were also adjudged the fastest Indian man and woman in the elite category and won special cash prizes for the same sponsored by Pablo Erat. A total amount of Rs 1,90,000 was distributed in prize money to all podium winners.
