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Show of Force flattens field in Davao triathlon
(The Philippine Star) Updated March 15, 2010 12:00 AM
http://www.philstar .com/Article. aspx?articleId= 558243&publicationSubCateg oryId=69
MANILA, Philippines - Three months after winning his first local title, Australian Rohan Force returned to the same venue to reign again.
The 41-year old Force, a businessman engaging in distributions of nutritional supplements, leaned on his all-around performance to claim line honors in the second leg of the Speedo National Age Group Triathlon Championship raced at the Baywalk Park, Queensland Compound in Davao City.
Mary Pauline Fornea, 16, shared stellar billing with Force, turning in the best time among female triathletes who competed in the race backed by Barangay Matina Emergency Unit, Davao Volunteers Fire Brigade and Davao City Traffic Management Center.
Force, who is also an active triathlete back home, was never challenged as he was in the lead in this 1k swim, 30k bike and 7k run event organized by Triathlon Association of Davao headed by Dr. Oscar Escudero and supported by Speedo.
He made splits of 13:30 in the swim, 49:28 in the bike and finished the race in 32:09 in the run for an accumulated time of one hour, 35 minutes, 7 seconds to claim top honors in the 40-44 male age group.
This was Force’s second win in the same venue after dominating the sixth Mayor’s Cup last November.
Fornea, a scholar of DOST in UP Mindanao, proved she deserved to be in the TRAP national pool as she topped the under-19 category with a 2:09:21 clocking with splits of 15:19, 1:07:22 and 46:40. Fornea, meanwhile, will attend the Subic Training Camp next month before competing in the Asian Juniors and U-23 Championships on May 1 and 2, also in Subic.
Other age group winners in the event supported by the Philippine Sports Commission, Globe Telecom, Sunkist, Vitwater, Rudy Project, Asian Centre for Insulation Philippines and David’s Salon were April John Maniyog (under 19), Jefferson Tabacon (20-24), Glenn Villocino (26-29), Jemarvin Cabilan (30-34), Christopher Eyao (35-39), Rolando Alisan (45-49), Juanito Dionio (50-54), Romeo Lactaoen (55-59) and Edgardo Villar (60-above) in the male.
Cherryl Araneta (20-24), Ivy Joy Herrero (30-34) and Cossette Plaza (35-39) joined Fornea as champions in the female age group.
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Written on 6:17 PM by yahoo
PARIS, France (CNN) -- Three French journalists charged in an alleged plot to kidnap African children for adoption in Europe arrived in Paris on Sunday, hours after French President Nicolas Sarkozy held emergency talks in Chad.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy, left, arrives in Paris with three freed journalists Sunday.
But 14 other people remained in custody in the African nation, some facing serious charges that could send them to jail for up to 20 years.
The journalists were among seven Europeans a Chadian judge released Sunday, including a Spanish flight crew, whom Sarkozy dropped off in a brief stop in Madrid on his way back from Chad.
All were arrested last week after workers from Zoe's Ark -- a French-based charity group -- were accused of trying to fly 103 children out of Chad in a kidnapping and adoption operation.
Some of the children may never return to their families because it is too difficult to determine their backgrounds, Red Cross spokeswoman Inah Kaloga told CNN on Friday.
Those who remain under arrest in Chad are six members of the French charity, four Chadians and four remaining members of the flight crew. Some face kidnapping and fraud charges.
Zoe's Ark leader Eric Breteau testified Saturday to a court in the Chadian capital that the three journalists and the flight crew of seven Spaniards and a Belgian were not involved in the alleged plot, court witnesses told CNN.
At least some of the flight crew are scheduled to testify before a judge on Monday.
The three journalists initially had been charged with complicity in the alleged kidnapping attempt. It's not clear if the charges against them have been dropped.
In a joint news conference with Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero on Sunday at Madrid's Torrejon Air Force Base, Sarkozy expressed satisfaction that some of those detained had been released.
At the same time, however, he told reporters, "We should respect the sovereignty of Chad."
Zapatero thanked Sarkozy for dropping the four Spanish flight crew members off in their home country, and thanked Chadian President Idriss Deby for allowing them to return.
After his emergency talks in Chad, Sarkozy stressed the scandal would not affect the strong relations between the two countries or affect the planned deployment of a European force to protect refugees from Sudan's Darfur region who have fled to Chad and the neighboring Central African Republic.
Sarkozy also said he hoped the six remaining French nationals -- all from Zoe's Ark -- would face trial in France.
The charity says that the children were orphans from the Darfur region -- where the United Nations estimates 200,000 people have been killed in four years of conflict -- and that the group was taking them to host families in France.
But after preliminary interviews with the children, aid agencies said Thursday it appeared most of them probably are not orphans and not from Sudan, but instead come from villages on the Chadian side of the border with Sudan.
The children are staying in an Abeche orphanage while aid agencies and government officials try to find out where they came from -- a challenge hindered by the number of children, their youth, and the volatile situation in the region.
A father of three of the children allegedly kidnapped told a French newspaper he put his children into the charity's care after he was told they would be educated at a school under construction in a nearby town.
he Chadian man, who gave his name as Arbab, told Le Parisien on Sunday that workers from Zoe's Ark had visited his village three times.
"They never said they would take away our children," he told the newspaper.
courtesy of cnn
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