Philippines obstacle racers go perfect

MANILA, Philippines — The vaunted Philippine obstacle course racers brought out the broom in the 30th Southeast Asian Games yesterday and no one could be happier than Mervin Guarte, who sealed the hosts’ perfect six-of-six campaign with his triumph in the culminating men’s individual 5K x 20 obstacle race at Filinvest in Alabang.

By striking gold, Guarte washed away years of frustration in his previous SEAG stints as the athletics team’s 800m and 1,500m run specialist. In the last four editions prior to this, Guarte finished runner-up five times and took the bronze in 2017.

The 28-year-old left his first love this year for a new-found love – the fast-growing sport of obstacle course racing (OCR).  It didn’t take long and the athletic Guarte quickly hit paydirt.

“Mahirap yung training, sobrang hirap – endurance, muscle endurance, speed, palalakasin mo yun. Tapos ayun, lahat ng hirap at pagod worth it (Training was so hard, you have to build on you endurance, muscle endurance, speed. But all the hardships are worth it),” said Guarte after submitting a winning 25:31 to tow compatriot Sherwin Managi (26:16) to the podium.

Guarte’s SEAG breakthrough came after Sandi Abahan led a similar 1-2 finish for the hosts in the distaff side. Abahan covered the course in 33:30 to beat teammate Glorien Merisco for the first of gold at stake in the last day of the inaugural OCR hostilities.

The newly-minted champs picked up from where their brothers and sisters left off in Wednesday’s opening play, where Kevin Jeffrey Pascua and Rochelle Suarez lorded it over the 100m x 10 obstacle races and  Phl bets ruled the mixed relay 400m x 12 and mixed team assist 400m x 12 competitions.

Guarte frolicked in his new sport while leaving his imprint as the holder of the Phl athletics juniors and seniors records in the 1,500m distance.

“Ang una kong event ay athletics. Sa loob ng mahabang panahon, halos 13 years naging buhay ko ang athletics. Pero dumating ang pagkakataon na kailangan kong lisanin at iiwan yon, sa madaling salita wala talagang forever (I devoted nearly 13 years of my life in athletics but the time to leave has come),” said the pride of Calapan, Oriental Mindoro.

Guarte tried out OCR only last August upon the invitation of a friend.

“That time wala po akong idea kung ano ang OCR. Sabi ko sa kanya, try ko, ano bang laro yon at nung umaga po agad kong sinubukan ito, ni wala man lang akong alam paano gawin at lagpasan ang mga obstacle na yon basta sinabi ko lang sa sarili ko kaya ko ‘to, ingat lang (I had no idea what OCR was at first and when I first played, I just willed myself to overcome the obstacles, telling myself, I could do this),” he recalled.

“Kahit matalo, try ko lang, ipilit ko man pong mauna pero di ko naiwasan ang malaglag. After nun, hindi ko inakala na ito na pala ang daan para makapasok ako bilang isang atletang Pilipino ulit sa larangan ng OCR (I tried to get ahead but fell. After that, I was already hooked into it and to my surprise, OCR paved the way for my Philippine team comeback),” he added.