By MARK REY MONTEJO
Alexandria Dormitorio delivered the first gold medal for the Philippines after ruling the women junior event on the opening day of UCI Thailand MTB XCO Cup in Kanchanaburi Wednesday, Jan. 15.
Dormitorio, 17, clocked 50 minutes and 51.9 seconds to outlast her lone opponent and hometown bet Pinpak Chiengsuan (59:38.7) in the 13-kilometer event.
With her win, the Filipina cyclist earned 20 points while Chiengsuan got 18.
In the 26km men’s U-23 class, Adrian Nacario (1:05:15.8) was just a hairline short for the top honor as Indonesian Feri Yudoyono came out faster by tenths of a seconds after timing in 1:05:15.1 to clinch the gold medal.
Nacario settled for silver while his teammate John Andre Aguja (1:05:36.4), the two-time Thai Junior king and former world no. 7 in UCI juniors rankings, got the bronze.
Nacario and Aguja got 10 and 5 points apiece after the race.
Meanwhile, Thirdy Mana-ay impressed in the men junior division as he bagged the second silver for the Nationals. He crossed the line in 54 minutes and 59.6 seconds in the 16-km race.
Shagne Yaoyao and Nicole Quinones are competing at presstime.
