Triathlon kicked off its two-day schedule at WMG2025 at Plum Blossom Lake in Yilan. Day One featured Sprint Distance and Aquathlon, which were participated in by more than 700 athletes. The participants demonstrated the spirit of triathlon even after it started raining in the afternoon. Former national team athlete turned coach Yang Chih-Hsiang and Huang Ya-Lan topped in the Sprint Distance. The scenery around Plum Blossom Lake is quiet and secluded. Numerous athletes completed their valuable first triathlon at the event and finished a comfortable competition.
Nearly one thousand people arrived at Plum Blossom Lake, where it was sunny in the morning, but it started to drizzle around noon. Athletes participated in the competition in comfortable weather that was not scorching hot. Triathlons consist of swimming, cycling, and running over distances. Athletes must finish three sports back-to-back. The Standard Distance consists of a 1.5km swim, a 40km bike ride, and a 10km run, 51.5km in total, while the Sprint Distance, which took place today consists of a 750m swim, a 20km bike ride, and a 5km run, 25.75km in total. Although the distance was shorter, it tested the athletes’ speed.
Lee Hung-Pin, “Dr. Triathlon,” who runs a rehabilitation clinic in Taoyuan, participated in Men’s Sprint Distance-45+, finishing with 1hr 12’00” as the first athlete. “My first triathlon was seven years ago at Plum Blossom Lake. I started exercising because I told my patients to exercise, but it’s not persuasive if I don’t do so myself. I have to be healthy to serve more patients.”
Several highlights were spotted at the Triathlon Sprint Distance today. Maria Rosario Tomasena Alzuri, 79, from Spain, finished the competition with incredible stamina and received cheering from the crowd at the podium. She even shared that she crossed the Strait of Gibraltar, 16.2km, at 77 in 2023, becoming the record holder for the oldest person to accomplish this feat and demonstrating the spirit of “SPORTS beyond AGE｜LIFE without LIMITS.” “I’ve been to the Himalaya mountains twice,” Tomasena Alzuri said. “I started swimming after a car crash as a rehabilitation, and I learned how to ride a bike when I was 69 before I started participating in triathlons. I want to challenge the limits of my body!”Triathlons test the athletes’ strength and will and ask them to demonstrate their beliefs in life. Whether they are doctors who fight for health, senior triathletes who want to cross the border of age, or those who’re here to take on their first triathlon, they all showcase their passion for sports and an attitude of never giving up through their sweat and persistence.
