Mary Joy Tabal, paced by her partner John Philip Dueñas, approaches the finish line en route to winning the women’s 21-kilometer race of the 6th SM2SM Run yesterday. (CDN PHOTO/CHRISTIAN MANINGO)
Marathon queen Tabal leaves for Japan on winning note, dominates SM2SM footrace
Regarded as the country’s Marathon Queen, Mary Joy Tabal took care of business before flying abroad for a much-needed training as she topped the 21k competition of the 6th SM2SM Run yesterday at the SM City Cebu Northwing car park.
Tabal was in her usual dominant form, defending her crown by beating arch-rival Mary Grace Delos Santos with a time of one hour, 21 minutes and four seconds.
De los Santos settled for second place with 1:25.08. She was followed by Christine Hallasgo, who timed 1:26.04.
Later in the day, Tabal left for Japan where she will undergo a month-long training under the tutelage of legendary Japanese marathoner Akio Usami.
The training is part of Tabal’s preparation for the Boston Marathon on April 18 where the Cebuana runner will try to meet the Olympic qualifying time for the women’s 42k marathon in the Rio Olympics.
“This is it. The start of my journey,” Tabal posted on her Facebook account. “Lord God, I pray that you will continue to guide me and protect me, keep me safe and give me strength and courage.”
In yesterday’s race, Tabal’s partner John Philip Dueñas decided not to compete in the men’s 21k race and instead paced Tabal.
Richard Solano dominated the men’s 21k division with a time of 1:10.39. Julius Sermona finished second with 1:10.49 and former Milo Marathon champion Juniel Languido rounded off the top three with 1:11.33.
In the men’s 21k foreign division, Kenyan Eric Chepsiror, the reigning Cebu City Marathon 42k champion, emerged as the fastest runner with 1:08.37. He was followed by compatriot Jonathan
Kogei (1:08.37) and Lt. Tyler Anderson, an American Navy man who finished the race in 1:29.36.
In the distaff side of foreign 21k category, Kate Kim topped the race with 1:52.42 and was followed by Shantel Osion (2:11.43) and Mikenna Tansley (2:15.34).
In the 12k category, Prince Joey Lee ruled the men’s division with 39:38 while Lany Cardona topped the women’s contest with 48:20.
In the 12k foreign category, Abraham Kilimo and fellow Kenyan Judith Jepchirchir were the top two finishers with 38:30 and 49:33, respectively.
Cherry Andrin and Christopher Ulboc, on the other hand, ruled their respective divisions in the 6k race after clocking in 19:32 and 23:45, respectively.
In the 3k race, Michael Largo and Geniecel Saballa snatched the titles in their respective divisions, 9:39 and 12:02 respectively.
The race, which drew 6,000 runners, was organized by SM Prime Holdings Inc. for the benefit of the Cebu News Workers Foundation (CENEWOF) and the Children of Cebu Foundation.