Diminutive Bryant E. Sepnio of San Miguel, Nabua staunchly held on to hefty seven-minute plus lead he set at the first lap and coasted along with the front riders in the last two laps to wrap up the top plum and P50,000 first place prize of the Tour of Camarines Sur Decade Run.

        Sepnio who was Tour champion of 2005 stuck it out with the leading cyclists in the second lap to come in fourth with a pack of four exactly three and a half minutes behind the leading cyclists Rommel Vargas of Baao, Pohnpie Nico Barreto of Iriga City and Jonathan Rombaon also of Iriga City who posted lone 1-2-3-finishes.

        The hardy biker from Nabua thus retained the coveted yellow jersey for the third lap where he crossed the final finish line with a pack of 22 other riders only 25 seconds behind the two leading riders Henry Ramboyong of Iriga City and Joseph Miilanes of Mafabon City who broke the tape nose and given similar times of 2:58:06.

        Sepnio’s three-lap overall time for the total 226-kilometer distance was 10 hours, 57 minutes and 34 seconds, still over seven minutes better than second placer Junes Servino of Iriga City who ranked second in the first lap, fourth in the second lap and second in the third lap for overall time of 11:04:46 that entitled him to the P40,000 second prize.

        Third place with a P20,000 cash prize was taken by Margarito Platilla, Jr. of Iriga City with overall time of 11:05:52 followed by Henry Ramboyong, also from Iriga City who clocked in 11:10:13, good for P15,000 and Rommel Vargas of Baao at fifth place with 11:16:46 who will take home a P10,000 cash prize.

        Sixth place and P8,000 cash prize went to Nilo Estayo from Pangasinan and seventh and eighth places both worth P7,000 were taken by Sergio Sotto and Joseph Millanes of Malabon City, respectively.

        Ninth to fifteenth places each carrying P5,000 cash prize were awarded to Jonathan Rombaon, Ponhpie Nico Barreto, Jackie Lyod Berjame, Ernesto de la Pena, Ricarte Dispolon, Jr., Brian Borling and Jayson Almerol.

        Sixteenth to twentieth placers got P4,000 each; twenty-first to thirtieth P2,000 each and thirty-first to fiftieth Pi,000 apiece and all other non-winning finishers received P800.00 survivor’s consolation prize each.

        In the team category the Iriga Cycle Team A composed of Junes Servino, Henry Ramboyong and Rommel Vargas who finished second, fourth and fifth in the individual standings had the best combined time of 33:41:45 to place first with P20,000 cash prize, followed by the Philippine Air Force group of Nilo Estayo, Tomas Martirez Jr., and Joseph Millanes rated second with P15,000 cash prize.

        Third team prize and P10,000 went to Team Air 21 manned by Jackie Lyod Berjame, Brian Borling and Jayson Almerol with the Toro Cycling Team composed of Bryant Sepnio, Jun Babagay and Ricardo Samayo, Jr being rated fourth and entitled to a P5,000 cash prize. (GBCLAVERIA)