HELLO, RIO. Mary Joy Tabal from Cebu shows off her finisher’s medal after her stint in the Scotiabank Ottawa Marathon in Canada last Sunday. (CONTRIBUTED)
Tabal makes marathon cutoff time for Rio Olympics in second attempt
After all the heartaches and frustrations, Mary Joy Tabal finally made it.
The 26-year-old Cebuana of the Motor Ace Racing Philippines/Kawasaki achieved her ultimate goal on Sunday, making the marathon cutoff time for the Rio Olympics in her stint in the Scotiabank Ottawa Marathon in Canada.
This was the second time Tabal tried to qualify for the Olympics. Her first Olympic qualifier was the 2016 Boston Marathon last April. The 26-year-old fell four minutes short of the qualifying time there.
Feeling more relaxed this time around, Tabal clocked two hours, 43 minutes and 31 seconds in Canada, more than a minute clear of the Olympic qualifying time for the marathon of 2:45:00.
She placed 38th overall out of 4,416 runners.
“I still can’t believe that this happened,” Tabal said. “There are no words to describe how happy I am.”
The Philippines’ Marathon Queen said too much pressure was the reason why she faltered in her first try in Boston.
By staying focused on the mission at hand and concentrating on the two-week training in Japan, Tabal was finally able to beat the qualifying time and hopefully be able to race in Rio this August.
“What I did was a negative split for the first half to make myself relaxed and conserve energy for the last part. It was effective,” Tabal said.
But for Tabal to be able to compete in the Olympics, she will have to be reinstated to the national team by the Philippine Amateur Track and Field Association (Patafa).
It can be recalled that Tabal left the national pool a few months after winning a silver medal in the Southeast Asian Games women’s marathon event in 2015. She has since been supported by the Motor Ace Racing Philippines/Kawasaki team.
Should Patafa accept the result of Tabal’s performance in Canada and reinstate her into the national team, the Cebuana will join Eric Crey and Marestella Torres in the Philippine athletics team for the Rio Games.
Tabal’s coach, John Philip Dueñas, and the rest of the Motor Ace team are now planning Tabal’s next move in preparation for the Olympics.
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