Potenciano “Yong” Larrazabal III finishes first in the 21-kilometer race of the Run Rio Trilogy Afroman Distance leg 2 on Sunday morning at the Cebu Business Park. CONTRIBUTED
Against odds, Larrazabal emerges on top in 21k of Run Rio
All odds were stacked against Dr. Potenciano “Yong” Larrazabal III in the Run Rio Trilogy yesterday at the Cebu Business Park.
But Larrazabal, a known ophthalmologist who is also an avid runner, still managed to top the 21-kilometer race of the trilogy’s second leg.
According to Larrazabal, things weren’t really looking bright before the race.
He said he arrived a bit late for the race so he had to start at the rear portion of the starting area.
He also forgot to hook up his watch to his GPS system, which meant he had to pace with the heart rate monitor in his watch.
And his body was still recovering from two tough races abroad.
“I was never prepared for that race because I only wanted to have a recovery run,” he said as he noted that he was coming from two grueling international marathons in Boston and London. “Coming from those two grueling marathons abroad that had extreme weather conditions, I really did not expect to win this. Considering that there were a lot of elite runners who joined this run, I was very surprised but very glad at the same time. This just shows that no matter that you are still a beginner or a regular runner, there is always a chance to win against elite runners,” Larrazabal added.
Clyde Omayan finished second while Randy Gonzales settled for third.
Sharon Rose Torres topped the 21k distaff side while Tytsie Mari Ortiz and Mary Grace Camarillo were her runners up.
Organizers were not able to provide the official time of the winners.
Larrazabal shared that his recent stints in the Boston Marathon and the London Marathon also meant that he has completed all six major marathons in the world. For this, he earned the Abbot World Marathon Majors six-star finishers medal and six-star finishers certificate.
The Runrio race was his third local running event that he joined this year.
The first one was the 7-Eleven Run full marathon last February and the 21k of the first leg of the Run Rio Trilogy where he also emerged as the top runner in his age category.
Meanwhile, Ruffa Sorongon was the 32k women’s winner while Prince Joey Lee was the 32k men’s champion.
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