Actor Matteo Guidicelli will showcase his skills on a different stage when the Cobra Energy Drink Ironman 70.3 Asia-Pacific Championship featuring some of the world’s top triathletes unfolds on Aug. 7 in Cebu.
“This is one triathlon that I don’t have to do but look forward to doing,” said Guidicelli, who will be rubbing shoulders with triathlon’s elite in the continental showcase being held in the Philippines for the first time and powered by the country’s leading energy drink.
Sponsored by Cobra, the 2016 Ironman 70.3 Asia-Pacific competition has drawn a banner field of 2,900 entries, led by Australian defending men’s champion Tim Reed and Australia-based Caroline Steffen, the reigning women’s champ and considered the “Xena” of triathlon, of Switzerland.
Expected to share the spotlight in the grueling one-day competition are Aussie Tim Van Berkel and veteran Craig Alexander, a three-time Ironman world champion.
Providing Steffen stiff challenge in the women’s pro division is New Zealander Kathryn Marie Haesner, who placed fourth in the 2015 edition and has three straight top five triathlon finishes earlier this year in a build-up to the Cebu event offering a total of $75,000 (over P3 million) in cash prizes.
Carrying the colors for the Philippines in the pro division is Manila-based Dan Brown, a trainer-coach and married to Ani de Leon-Brown, the first Filipina to compete in the taxing Ironman world championship in Kona, Hawaii.
