MANDY Cheung Man-yiu captured top honours in the junior girls' division of the 1995 Asian Triathlon Series. However, male triathlete Daniel Lee Che-wo failed to complete a double for Hong Kong as he only took the runner-up prize. Swimmer-turned-triathlete Mandy scored enough points to lift the girls' overall title without having to take part in either of the last two races held simultaneously at Subic Bay in the Philippines and in Madras, India. Fellow Hong Kong junior international Jill Fung Ka-man capitalised on Mandy's absence to win the junior division in the Philippine race, crossing the line in third position behind established triathletes Kim Isherwood and Chiu Pik-kwan. Jill completed the Olympic distance (1.5-km swim, 40-km bike and 10-km run) race in two hours and 54 minutes, less than 15 minutes behind an experienced Isherwood. It was a most commendable performance by the Kwun Tong Delia Memorial School student because Isherwood is a full-time triathlete and ranked in the world's top 10 over the Ironman course. Another Hong Kong junior who did exceedingly well at Subic Bay was 16-year-old James Endicott. A highly promising youngster, James has been improving with every race this year, according to his coach. James pushed junior winner Nonoy Jopson all the way and lost by only 15 metres to the 19-year-old Filipino who is also the overall series champion, both finishing in 2:19. 'James has been doing well all season and gave the older boys a hard run in all his races,' said coach Ruth Hunt. 'It was an excellent effort for him to run so close to Nonoy, a very experienced triathlete and one of Asia's finest juniors,' he added. Daniel Lee, who did not compete in either the Subic Bay nor Madras race, still finished second in the Asian Series final standings behind Nonoy.
