PATAFA won’t recognize Palaro junior national records

VIGAN, Ilocos Sur, Philippines — The national track and field association yesterday said it will not recognize the three new national junior records posted in the just-concluded Palarong Pambansa here after the organizing Department of Education failed to have the games sanctioned by the governing local track body.

“Unfortunately, it is not possible,” a source from the Philippine Amateur Track and Field Association (PATAFA) told The STAR. “DepEd did not seek PATAFA’s sanction of the competition.”

Without the PATAFA expertise, some events in track and field encountered problems.

Hurdler Eliza Cuyom and sprinter Veruel Verdadero of Calabarzon and javelin thrower Ann Katherine Quitoy of Western Visayas shattered the current national juniors marks currently listed in the PATAFA records.

Already in the age of modern digital technology, Palaro still used hand timers and only used equipment to measure wind gauge in the jumping events and not in sprints where Cuyom and Verdadero ripped the national juniors’ marks in 100m hurdles and century dash, respectively.

The games also saw Bicol’s Lheslie de Lima run an extra 400m on her way to winning the girls 3000m gold right on the first day.

“The track events are even more problematic since most timers who officiated were not PATAFA-accredited technical officials,” the same source said.

Cuyom, 17, turned in a blistering 14.50-second effort, besting the 14.73 she set in the trials that erased the national juniors’ hand-timed record of 15-sec. flat which Julie Rose Forbes posted in the National Open in Manila 18 years ago.