After .93 miles of intense swimming, it was BATSUB?s strongman, Wolly Wolgar, who emerged first out of the Caribbean Sea and was quick on his bike to take on the 24-mile ride on the Western Highway. He was shortly followed by Jon Self (self-sponsored) and later by the very athletic Jim Scott (Father of God and man). A little more than two minutes later, it was the young and upstart Giovanni Choto (CV Joints Misfits), who was fourth out of the water. Giovanni was later followed by his talented older brother, Jose Choto (Oxley Corporate Services). Third brother, Rafael Choto (Oxley Corporate Services), not a true swimmer, was much later out of the water however. The three Choto brothers are all from Cayo and are nationally recognized for their cycling talents.
On the Western Highway, Giovanni immediately ran down Scott and was gradually gaining ground on both Self and Wolgar. Self later complained about not feeling well, gave up and dropped out of the race. Seventeen-year-old Giovanni, riding like a young thoroughbred, reeled in Wolgar around three miles on the return journey. Around the same time, older brother Jose, along with brothers, Lendon and Calvin Rojas (Hot Mammas), had broken away from the chase group, which was led by no other than Hubert ?Brother J? Johnson and Jim Scott. Roger Troyer, who was late out of the water, was also chasing like a man possessed.
Giovanni Choto and Wolly Wolgar finished the bike ride together and immediately started the 6-mile run. To the surprise of both the hundreds of spectators and Wolgar himself, Choto instantly started to run away from the powerful veteran. Older brother Jose was at the same time distancing himself from the two Rojas brothers after the first mile of running. Jose then easily overtook Wolgar, who was in second place, and started catching up on young Giovanni, who was experiencing foot cramps.
Jose later caught Giovanni near the Pallotti roundabout, and both brothers continued running together, increasing the gap between themselves and the field. Brother J had then managed to break away from his group. He overtook both Rojases and Wolgar, and was in a comfortable third position.
After two hours and twelve minutes of swimming, cycling and running, it was Giovanni Choto over the finish line first, with brother Jose one step behind for second place. Hubert Johnson, who collapsed in last year?s Lionman race, made a glorious comeback and finished a stunning third. Calvin Rojas was later on fourth, with brother London fifth. Wolly Wolgar was sixth and Jim Scott seventh.
Hubert Johnson was the first Masters to finish, followed by Jim Scott. Shalini Zabaneh was the only female to compete. Reports are that Zabaneh traveled all the way to Taiwan to train for this year?s longer swimming distance. The other females who could not afford the extra overseas training opted not to participate.