The Olympic triathlete Irving Pérez and the world champion Cecilia Ramírez were the first crossing the finish line in the Elite category of the Merida Triathlon 2019, in which some two thousand athletes participated and which started at the Malecón de Progreso with the finish line in the Remate of Paseo de Montejo.
Irving won with a time of 1:16:52, the second place went to David Núñez with 1:16:58 and in third was Rodrigo González with a time of 1:17:04.
Last year, Irving, from Morelos, was injured, so he was in his comeback year, and he did it big in Merida. It can be said that he dominated from start to finish.
“It’s a good start for me, because my goal is clear, I’m going to compete in the Bahamas to get the ticket to the Pan American Games,” he said.
The Pan-American Games are at the end of July in Lima, Peru.
He added that it is not easy to return to the high competition after the injuries, but Merida was a good catalyst to know their physical scope, so he also has his mind fixed on the next Olympic Games of Tokyo 2020.
“The injuries make you think differently, I’m renewed, the road to Tokyo looks long, but we only have 14 or 16 very intense qualifying months left, so we have to keep progressing,” he said.
BICAMPEONA
In the women’s race, the Oaxacan triathlete Cecilia Ramírez was the winner, 1:26:50, with which she won the bicampeonato in the Yucatan capital.
“This result is due to the work of my entire team, the Oaxaca Team, so we plan,” she said when winning the competition.
The second place was for Sofia Rodriguez with 1:27:21 hours and the third place for Jessica Romero with 1:27:34 minutes.
Ramírez said she was happy to win again in Mérida, where last year she started the route that took her to the world championship of the specialty and its category.
“If I did not have this team it would be difficult to be where I am today, it is everyone’s job,” she insisted.
She stressed that the three phases of the competition were thoroughly worked on, following a plan for each moment of the competition, which began at 7:30 am on the Malecon de Progreso.
The trophy presentation was held in the Paseo Montejo Remate at the end of the competitions, while at night the other categories were awarded in the Santa Lucía park.
Attending the ceremony were Carlos Sáenz Castillo, head of the Idey; Raúl Paz Noriega, representative of Sefotur; the captain of the port of Progeso Bernardo Crespo and the commissar of the Federal Police, commander Roberto Rodríguez Rivero.
Text and photo: Esteban Cruz Obando
