MANILA: Ireland-based Filipino triathlete Mike Gonda proved he is now ready to compete in the 2024 VinFast World Ironman championship in Nice, France on Sept. 22.
The native of Mabini, Batangas finished the 45-49 age category of the 32nd Club la Santa Ironman Lanzarote in 12 hours, 48 minutes and 38 seconds, held in Canary Islands, Spain on Sunday.
‘It is nice back at it after my injury. I did register just to feel the distance again, but I still gave it my all. Happy to be back,’ Gonda said in a message sent to the Philippine News Agency through a fellow runner, Alona Cochon.
Cochon said Gonda qualified in the 2023 World Ironman championship also held in Nice after finishing fifth in the Ironman 70.3 Subic Bay in Subic Bay Freeport Zone in June last year.
Gonda, however, was not able to compete in France after he sustained in an injury when a car hit his bike while participating in a Denmark Ironman, prompting the organizer to give him automatic slot for this year’s world championship.
Since 2017, Gonda
have competed in at least 12 international ironman distances, including the 2019 Barcelona Ironman where he registered his personal record of 10:11.08.
Ironman is one of a series of long-distance triathlon races consisting of 3.9-kilometer swim, 180.2-km bicycle ride and a 42.2-km run.
A qualifying event for the World Ironman championship, the Lanzarote edition is one of the toughest and longest-standing races in Europe with an 8,130-feet mountainous bike course.
Kenneth Vandendriessche, the winner in 2022 from Belgium, regained the men’s division title in a time of 8:29.54 while Anne Haug of Germany claimed the women’s category in 9:06.40.
Source: Philippines News Agency
