January Member Spotlight-- Junki Flores
Sun 01/08/2012 - 06:00 PM by Anonymous
JUNKI FLORES
--- No stranger to activity, Junki plays basketball, tennis, badminton, soccer and golf. When not breaking a sweat his favorite pastime is riding off on a scooter. The road to the tri world began when he started mountain biking in 2005, road biking in 2009, and finally joining the tri world in June 2010. His first tri race was a sprint distance, and a memorable one at that since he didn’t even know how to swim! Determination helped him finish nonetheless.
Going into 2011, Junki’s goal was to become a better swimmer, and felt he accomplished this after about 4 months of practicing in open water. Taking his honed skills to the race world, he had participated in Speedo Nagt and won first in his age group in Cebu. His Cobra Ironman in the Philippines was a great experience since it was his first 70.3. He felt there was such a whirlpool mix of emotions that day, both excited and a bit afraid because he had not really trained for it, especially the running section. Not stopping there he joined several local tri's and easily accomplished these, including the Dayo bros triathlon.
Junki learned about Fil-Am Tri from Lence Dayo. He wanted to cling to a Filipino tri group on the East Coast and felt very welcomed by this team. Thanks Lence for the introduction! FAT gained a dedicated triathlon advocate, having organized a group called TAGGHAP (Triathlon Active Group for Good Health and Performance). His enthusiasm is hard to miss, encouraging people to invest in building good health through active sports involvement. His ultimate objective is to support street children, perhaps make them into tri-athletes. His hope is that they someday kick butt in Kona. It is his strong belief that from here, we all can share the true meaning of life. For Junki, all things are possible, if you believe.
Stay tuned for Junki’s upcoming 2012 races: X terra 2012, Cobra Ironman 70.3, and some local triathlons.