BEMEDALLED athletes backed by Standard Insurance are among those to be honored during the annual Philippine Sportswriters Association Awards Night presented by San Miguel Beer and MILO on Feb. 13 at the LE PAVILLON.
Top Filipina triathlete Monica Torres and the Standard Insurance Centennial Sailing Team lead the list of athletes and entities to be cited during the gala night also co-presented by CIGNAL/HYPER HD for excelling in their respective fields.
Torres, the veteran triathlete from Subic Bay, remained as the undefeated Filipina in the Ironman 70.3 race for the eighth consecutive year.
In last year’s Cobra Ironman 70.3 Philippines Asia Pacific Championship, Torres clocked 21 minutes faster than the second-placer foreign participant, who ranked eighth overall among the elite women racers, including some of the world’s best.
Torres, who has won numerous titles since 2009, defeated Southeast Asian Games gold medalist Claire Adorna in the elite women division in last year’s Tri United 2 in Zambales.
She was also the overall women champion during the Tri La Union held in San Fernando town last March, while finished second during the Milo Marathon 21 Km eliminations in Tarlac.
“I am incredibly proud to be representing the Philippines as a professional, but I still have a long way to go. It’s a good thing that at this sport, you can have a pretty long career,” said the 33-year-old triahlete during a recent media interview.
Torres wants to continue advocating sport and a healthy lifestyle to Filipinos, and hopefully, inspire ordinary people to get into sport and for young athletes to aspire and become professionals in the future.
Currently, she is gearing up for the Thailand Tri-League Series at the Bangsaen Beach, Chonburi, Thailand on Feb. 19, seeking no less than a third place finish to secure a podium finish in the four-leg circuit.
Meanwhile, Standard Insurance Centennial Sailing team representing the Philippines, successfully defended its title last year during the DBS Marina Match Racing International Regatta by handily beating 11 other international teams in Marina Bay, Singapore.
The sailing team is composed of SEA Games skipper and gold medalist Allan Balladares and team members Teodorico Asejo, Rommel Chavez, Richly Magsanay, Joel Majarito, and Harry Kim Lumapas.
Likewise, the Centennial Sailing team, skippered by veteran sailor and Philippine Sailing Association president Judes Echauz, finished second overall in the Volvo China Coast Regatta and 10th China Cup International Regatta 2016 in Hong Kong.
The 17-man all-Filipino crew is composed of Balladares, SEA Games silver medalist Emerson Villena as helmsmen and Standard Insurance IT executive Stephen Tan as team manager and tactician.
For their excellent performance, the team got invited by the China Yachting Association headed by Li Quanhai, to train with China’s national team in its sailing center in Sanya for its preparation for the 2017 SEA Games in Kuala Lumpur, the Asian Games in 2018 in Indonesia, and the Olympics in 2020 in Tokyo.