Cebu’s marathon queen Mary JOy Tabal (top photo) holds her 28th SEA Games silver medal and a copy of Cebu Daily News which splashed a photo of her and a banner story about her inspiring feat in Singapore.(CDN/CHRISTIAN MANINGO)
After her stellar performance in the recent 28th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Singapore, Cebu’s pride, Mary Joy Tabal is now confidently setting much loftier goals.
Tabal, who won a silver medal in women’s marathon in her first appearance in the biennial games, is now casting a moist eye on the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.
Tabal clocked three hours, four minutes and 39 seconds in winning the SEAG silver just a minute behind Thailand’s Natthaya Thanaronnawat (3:03.25) and ahead of Vietnam’s Thi Thanh Hoang (3:07.14).
But for her to qualify for the 2016 Olympics, Tabal with the guidance of her hands-on trainer John Philip Dueñas, hopes to meet the qualifying time of 2:37.00 for women’s A and 2:43.00 for women’s B in the National Milo Marathon Finals in December where she is the two-time defending champion and owner of the meet record.
However, if she misses the qualifying time and only wins the Milo race, she can still make it to Rio by meeting the Olympic standard in the Boston Marathon next year because part of the prizes for the Milo champion is an all-expense paid trip and registration to the Boston race.
The 25-year old Tabal of Barangay Guba has already won several long distance runs abroad, like the Singapore and Japan races and has also competed in major marathons like L.A. and Paris.
“Amo jud ipadayon among goals ni Joy nga makadaog sa Milo Marathon,” said her partner and trainer Dueñas during their visit to the Cebu Daily News (CDN) office yesterday.
Tabal broke Joh-ann Banayag’s Milo record in 2013 by clocking 2:48.00 against the latter’s 2:48.16.
Tabal (4th from left) and her trainer John Philip Dueñas (3rd from left) pose with members of the CDN sports staff (from left) Editorial Assistant Calvin Cordova, Sports Copy Editor Brian Ochoa, Sports Editor Rick Gabuya (holding Cogie) and sports reporter Glendale Rosal.(CDN/CHRISTIAN MANINGO)
“Dako jud to nga blessing para nako ang pagkaapil nako sa SEA Games kay tibuok kinabuhi nako wala jud ko mag expect makuha ko,” said Tabal in a round table discussion with the paper’s sports staff.
“Achievable man diay kung mag set lang jud ka ug goal. Magkinaunsa man gani, kana imong goal di jud na nimo buhian, imo jud na paningkamotan makuha. Sauna ang mga race puro ra sa akong self, once naka try nako ug represent sa atong country, nindot kaayo ang feeling kay murag ang tibuok country ang nitabang nimo ug cheer ug dagan,” added Tabal.
After a series of guestings in Manila, Tabal returned to Cebu last Friday and plans to start training right away on Monday.
No major celebrations? None yet. Because for this multi-titled runner, the celebration will only commence at the starting line of the 2016 Olympic Games.
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