Even motored
vehicles have trouble going up this uphell. While this remained to be a truism, I also got to rediscover the real
allure for me of the Sungay Challenge and ultra running in general. In the running of all 50 kms, there are many things that could
happen. Human feats and frailties come to the surface. And
more and more, I get to witness the strength of the human spirit as it
goes out to challenge whatever obstacles are out there on the road. And in the process, a few good things happen, like gaining new
friend and earning respect even from
adversaries. These are for me the
fascination of long distance running.
There are many stories to tell in
the Sungay Challenge Ultra last July 13. Allow me to pick out 3, encompassing all sections of the action.
Front Row: The Shadow of the 4th
|
Bob the shadow of the champion (photo courtesy of Ernie Badong) |
One that I am fascinated to tell is the story
of fellow 83nean Bob Castilla’s relentless pursuit of improving his running. Ever since his first ultra, the 2010 T2N where he placed 90th overall,
he has steadily improved and has jumped to Top 20 territory in almost any ultra
marathon he joined. He even had a couple
of Top 5 finishes in an ultra: 2012 West
Coast 200Km Ultra (4th) and 2014 Malicboy-Atimonan-Pagbilao (MAP) 50km Ultra ( 4th). At Sungay, he did his best to garner a
podium finish (top 3) in an ultra. In fact, his strategy, hastily concocted
after seeing that the 1st place finisher in the 2014 MAP ultra was entered in
the race as well, almost worked. His
strategy was to shadow Hideki Yamashita until he could and this almost worked.
Bob relentlessly shadowed the eventual
winner for hours no end. If we are to imagine the thoughts racing to the mind
of the Japanese runner, it would have
gone something like this: “Kono otoko
wa nani o kangaete iruno ka...? Watashi wa, hashittemo, kare kara nigeru koto
wa dekinai.kare wa, Kage nanoda..” It
was when the sun came out in the uphills that the shadow faded. Cramps hit Bob
as the duelling duo neared the buko station before Km 40. Perhaps it was a tactical error on the part
of his support team (who was prioritizing the back-of-the-pack runners) for
being unable to provide ample hydration to Bob. But Bob gamely fought on and
finished a very respectable 4th (again).
At the finish line, both Bob and Hideki
showed strength of character by engaging in some sportsmanship stuff.
The magnanimous victor joined Bob as our classmate got his finisher medal.
Later, the two had some small talk where the Japanese inquired about the
condition of Bob with his cramps. Truly a class act and we would not have seen
it if not for some timely picture taking by Day Spotted Photography. Hideki gained our admiration and Bob earned
the respect from a champion. Maraming salamat and arigatou gozaimasu.
|
Bob cramping as he nears the buko station |
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4th placer Bob and 1st placer Hideki Yamashita with RD Prince |
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Respect... |
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...and camaraderie |
|
between |
|
...two ultra warriors |
Photo Credit: Day
Spotted
Middle Row: The Happiness of Hard Work
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Ernie’s smile is at its brightest when the run is at its toughest. |
With a ready smile, one can be forgiven for having the
misperception that there is no hard work in fellow 83nean Ernie Badong’s
running. His running form is stylishly
easy but make no mistake, Ernie is all
about hard work especially when it
comes to his second love - - running.
Running 10 kms on weekdays while working in a bank by day and being a tutor to his 2 kids by night is hard work.
Running and trying to keep up with Bob on weekend LSDs is hard work.
Ernie does this hard work with the zest of a teenager for he knows there will
be rewards. And such a reward came for
him in the Sungay Challenge Ultra when Ernie placed 10th overall out of 60
finishers. A first Top 10 finish in an
ultra for his late blooming running career. Ernie’s story is about mixing hard
work and fun. That is the story of why the ease in Ernie’s smile is flawless in every run he
joins.
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Ernie is smiling at the starting line... |
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...and the finish line. |
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Ernie with the top lady finisher, Wenx Hansen of Germany |
Back Row: To Help is To Befriend.
|
Tired but not out. The 3 runners from Bicol share a photo with Lake Taal in the background |
Met in person two brave lady
runners from Naga City at the Sungay Challenge Ultra. Brave because Au Reduta and Glie Ignacio Santos were running their
first ultra marathon and they were doing it without even tackling a marathon
first. Prior to Sungay, the longest
race Au had was the North Face 22km
Trail in Baguio last May while Glie had the
28km Dalagan Uragon way back in 2012. The idea to join Sungay just came out of the blue for them. They just
wanted to prove to themselves that they can do it. More impressive, they planned to do it as
self-support runners. The cynic in me
could not help but think whether they would survive the uphells that was Ligaya Drive
and finish within the cut off time of 10 hours. However, the Bicolano in me
could not help but offer assistance from our support vehicle and support team
of Ed Balcueva and Orly Jacob.
Moreover, when I got to see them
all smile and all self-effacing, I offered to run with them the whole of 50kms.
That is how the 83nean runners (Bob, Ernie and me) came to have an enjoyable running
of the Sungay Challenge with these two kababayans. For the record, out of 60
Sungay survivors, Au and Glie finished
37th and 39th respectively (The
Bicolano Penguin was at 36th place). The two lady runners from Bicol now call
me “coach” but it was the both of them who taught me a thing or two about
self-belief. Smiling runners you meet on the long road are friends you
hopefully get to keep for a long time.
|
Ernie with Au and Glie before the start |
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The Bicolano Penguin, Au and Glie on the uphells of Ligaya Drive to Tagaytay |
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The smile and the confidence, never leaving these two lady runners |
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Nearing the homestretch |
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I could smell the bulalo. |
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Au’s finish had RD Prince and 83nean Ed holding the banner. |
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Glie’s finish had RD prince and 83nean Bob holding the banner. |
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37th and 39th out of 60 finishers. Not bad at all for a first timer in ultra. |
P.S.
There are race directors from Sparta (the Bald Runner of BDM fame comes to
mind) and there are race directors from
Athens (Prince Baltazar of Prince Multi Sports Events and Rodell Mendoza
of Team Runn Active come to mind). Despite the differences, all 3 RDs gained
our respect because
all three are at the finish line of their respective ultras, ready to welcome all finishers, no matter if
you are in the first or last rows. Thank
you, Prince, for a good job on the Sungay Challenge Ultra. You made all runners feel special with the
way you handled the race, most especially at the finish. Special thanks to Raul Acuna of ARC for the
support.
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The Bicolano Penguin crossing the finish line |
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Getting a congratulatory handshake from Raul Acuna (photo courtesy of Day Spotted)
|
4 comments:
awesome article...thank you so much,coach! :)
Your welcome. I guess I am the coach coz I am the oldest. hahaha....
I'm a year older,although you're a couple of days ahead in celebrating our b-days...hehe...
Congrats to the new warriors Au and Glie! Uragon talaga ang mga bicolano! You are right BP. Running is my second Love. Iba talaga mag paligaya ang mga mistress...ay! I mean ang running pala. hahaha!
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