NEW national pool member Allen Santiago and Bernasconi Echauz opened the 2012 season with a bang as they ruled yesterday's Wetshop Green Aquathlon held at Philsports Complex in Pasig City.

Competing in only his second swim-run event, the 16-year old Santiago banked on his superb running skills to atone for his disappointing performance at the pool and claim the top spot in the men's 16 to 19 age class.

"Tatlo lamang kami naglaban pero naipit ako sa gitna at hindi nakaalis kaya naiwanan ako ng halos 25 seconds. Pero binawi ko ito sa run," said Santiago who negotiated the 800m swim and 3k run event in 24 minutes and 31 seconds.

Edward Vine Macalalad who submitted the fastest time in the swim with 12:54 as against 13:19 of Santiago, fell by 45 seconds in the run to settle for second with 24:51 time. In third place was Kurt Izak Cabanilla with 25:15.

Echauz, who is competing in the aquathlon for the first time, had no problem in dealing rivals Mari Glycel So and Maria Margarit De Los Reyes as the 15-year old triathlete led from start to finish for a fast 14:10 performance.

This is second time that Wetshop held the event in cooperation with Triathlon Association of the Philippines (TRAP) and the tournament drew a huge field of 145 participants with half of these young triathletes who saw action in the 7-8 to 13-15 age groups.

"The sport is growing. We have more participants compared to last year with much improvement of turnouts in the kids. For this year we have to turn down other entries proving that aquathlon is slowly gaining popularity. We hope to make more improvements to make next year's event bigger," said Vince Garcia, vice president of Holofer Marketing Corp.

Next event for TRAP is the first leg of the 2012 SPEEDO National Age Group Triathlon slated in Subic this February 5.

Other winners in the male age groups were Jhon Romar Buenaceda (25-29), Jerson Belonghilot (30-34), Jose De Vera (35-39) and Juan Apolinario Reyes (40-44) while former national swimmer Luica Dacanay (20-29) joined Jennifer Mae Alcantara (16-19), Karen Carpio (30-39) and Monica Altura (40-over) as winners in the female categories.

Kids winners were Calvin Goebel and Jea Beatriz Bernardo (7-8), Cedric Nathan Castrillo and Samantha Borlain (9-10), Gerard Emiljani Samson and Regina Castrillo (11-12), Mark Gregory Pile and Echauz (13-15).