CEBU, Philippines — A former sprinter, she collapsed at the finish line during her first ever 10-kilometer run. But Mary Joy Tabal showed resilience in the face of adversity on the way to establish herself among the Philippine running greats.
The pride of Barangay Guba, Cebu City first made history when she emerged as national champion of the Milo Marathon for six consecutive years. Her sixth crown came as a bittersweet moment for Tabal as she learned of her father’s death on the eve of the race.
In 2016, Tabal set a Philippine record for women’s marathon with a time of 2:43:30.
Tabal’s other shining accomplishments was seeing action in the 2016 Boston Marathon, 2015 Los Angeles (LA) Marathon and in the 2014 Paris Marathon where she placed 17th overall after completing the lung-busting 42.125km race in two hours and 57 minutes.
Tabal also topped several races on foreign shores. The country’s undisputed marathon queen ruled the 21K women’s open race of the 23rd Jeju International Tourism Marathon Festival in Jeju Island, South Korea. She also placed third in the Padova Marathon in Padua City, Italy earlier this year.
She lorded it over the women’s 21km category of the Hong Kong Standard Chartered Marathon in 2016. The following year, Tabal dominated the same race distance in the Singapore Sundown Marathon and the Adachi Goshikizakura Marathon in Japan.
Also in 2017, Tabal reigned supreme in the Scotia Bank Ottawa Half Marathon in Canada with a Phl record time of 1:16:27 in women’s 21km. That earned her ticket to 2016 Rio Olympics in Rio de Janiero, Brazil, becoming the first ever Filipina marathoner in the quadrennial event.
An Asian Games campaigner, Tabal’s biggest achievement by far is winning gold medal for Phl in women’s marathon event during the 2017 Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in Malaysia.
For her stirring exploits, Tabal was honored as “Athlete of the Year” by the Sportswriters Association of Cebu (SAC) multiple times.