Olympics

Don’t look now but the 2012 Olympic Games set in London is just around the corner. Held once every four years, the greatest athletes in the world gather in one city to take part in the biggest sporting event on earth. The first Olympic Games was held in 776 B.C in the small Greek City of Olympia. The games consisted of just a single sprint race, the 200 meters. (actually the track was just 192 meters). Later, other events were added such as long distance races, throwing, wrestling and chariot racing. Women were forbidden to watch the games and if caught, they were hurled off a cliff. And did you know that the spectators were naked? That way, it’s assured that only males are allowed. “Maayo unta gipadayon na karon”, wailed Manang Krizanta “Daghan akong makit-an nga... ano va yan?”. Sorry manang you’re better off watching the Oblation Run of UP. The ancient Games were held every four years until a Roman emperor banned them in A.D 393. It was not until 1896 when the Games were revived in Greece by Baron Pierre De Coubertin. The marathon event had only 15 participants then. The Philippines has yet to win a gold medal with only Anthony Villanueva and Onyok Velasco coming close by winning silvers in boxing. In the marathon, my protege Herman Suizo from IloIlo recorded the best finish of a Filipino runner when he placed 51st in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. Other Filipino marathoners who joined the Olympics marathon were Ben Silva Netto in Mexico (1968), Leonardo Illut in Los Angeles (1984) and my other protege’ Roy Vence, Atlanta (1996). Vertek Buenavista saw action in Sydney (2000). 

Amazing   Grace

Mary Grace Delos Santos has become a “Kenyan” in Cebu races. Just the other Sunday, Mary Grace won her third 21K crown in a row when she ruled the Hunat Sugbo 2 held at the Cebu Business Park. Two weeks ago, she won the Run UP High 2 and just last week , the DYAB Kapamilya Run. It looks like nobody in sight could beat Mary Grace at the moment . Just like the Kenyans, Mary Grace will soon be banned by organizers who believe that she is actually a Kenyan in disguise. That’s how amazing, Grace is.

Hard   Surface

I bumped into former Councilor Maning Legaspi who has been running for quite some time now. Maning said he stopped running for a while after injuring his spinal column. His doctor said it was the result of running in hard surfaces such as cement. Yes, most runners especially on the heavy side, get injured while running on the road. Well, I told Maning that when we ran in Hong Kong, the cemented roads there were really hard. That’s because “walay kurakot didto”. If your mixture say is 5 bags of cement to 3 bags of sand, that’s what you get. Here, it would probably be the other way around, 5 bags of sand to 3 cement. Thats why it’s a bit softer. Anyway, Maning has started to jog again at the Cebu City Sports Center.