Rio vet’s golden run breaks ice for Team Philippines

PUTRA JAYA, Malaysia – Mary Joy Tabal, the doyen of Philippine marathon, finally claimed an honored place as queen of the Southeast Asian Games, breaking the ice for a slow-starting Team Philippines with her compelling victory at the break of dawn, 12 hours before the formal opening of the 29th Southeast Asian Games yesterday.

Tabal left the four-woman lead group for good after the third of the five-lap circuit that started and ended at the footsteps of the Palace of Justice, and coasted home to a triumphant finish in two hours, 48 minutes, 26 seconds.

Titleholder Nathaya Natharinnawat of Thailand finished in 2:58:17, better than her gold-medal time of 3:03:25 in 2015 in Singapore, but her improved time was not enough to put her on the winning track or assure her of second place.

She finished third, beaten to the silver by Vietnam’s Hoang Thi Tanh (2:55:53).

Tabal, a veteran of the Rio Olympics, kept pace with a four-woman group which included Natharinnawat, Hoang and another Thai in the first three laps, but as the sun broke and temperatures started to rise slightly,  she made the initial breakaway and finished unopposed to win the full marathon before a predominantly large crowd of Kuala Lumpur-based Filipino fans, mostly OFWs.

“Napansin ko na humihingal na ang mga kalaban, kaya sinubukan kong kumalas (I noticed my opponents were struggling to catch their breath, so I made an initial breakaway),” said Tabal.

She maintained her distance, a good 50m gap on the narrow lane reserved for the SEA Games participants, with the other side occupied by over 20,000 participants in the 15K and 20K fun runs.

In the last 20 meters, Tabal remained safely ahead, and, after taking a furtive glance at her closest pursuer, she raised her arms in victory as she acknowledged the cheers of fans near the finish line.

She could have made one last burst of speed to improve her Phl mark of 2:47:49 she established in Tokyo in 2016, but gold was the goal of the moment.

Athletics chief Philip Ella Juico was the first to greet Tabal, handing her a cup of water at the last drinking station, while Philippine Sports Commissioner Ramon Fernandez gave her a hug at the finish line.

Juico himself did the honors of awarding the medals to the winners of both the women’s and men’s competition, where Filipino runner Jeson Agravante did not finish with muscle cramps in the last five kilometers.

The course, laid out over a two-lane stretch of the national highway in the outskirts of Malaysia’s high-end community about an hour ride from Kuala Lumpur by car, was relatively flat, but even the tame surface and the early morning breeze at the start of the race failed to give pursuers the staying power to keep up with the petite 4-11, 28-year-old four-time national marathon champion from Bgy. Guba in Cebu.

Tabal admitted she took the first meters with a heavy heart, her personal problems at home off the tracks still nagging her, but the presence of cheering Filipinos on both ends of the loop gave her renewed energy to run her race.

One of the fans in the crowd was Malaysia’s lone bet Annie Yee, a long-time follower of Tabal on social media but who was denied the Malaysian slot for the race recently after failing to meet country’s qualifying time.