Buenavista, Herrera outclass Thai runners

Reigning SEA Games 10,000 meters champion Eduardo Buenavista stamped his class anew but it was steeplechase specialist Rene Herrera who stole the thunder by ruling the 1500-m in the on-going Thai National Open athletics championships in Bangkok Tuesday.

A confident Buenavista breasted the tape at a slow 30:44.0 in his favorite event to thwart the bid of local boy Boonthung Srisung (31:17.20) and Taipei’s Wen Chien Wu (31:17.56). Buenavista established the SEAG record of 29:19.62 in Hanoi last December.

Herrera, a native of Iloilo, stunned the crowd at the Thammasat University track and field stadium by registering a fast 3:53.0 to improve his personal best of 4:08.82 he registered with only a fourth place finish in Hanoi last year.

The reed thin Ilonggo beat a couple of Thai runners namely, Patikarn Petsricha (3:57.09) and Yutthajak Thonglek (4:05.74) who settled for second and third, respectively.

"The kid (Herrera) is continuously improving…and to think that the 1500-m race is not even his specialty," Patafa president Go Teng Kok, who also thank the Philippine Sports Commission for financing his wards’ trip, said yesterday.

Despite having shifted to marathon, Go said Buenavista is invincible in the 10,000 in the region as even a slower time gave the five-foot South Cotabato boy the gold. "We are hoping to improve our eight gold harvest in Vietnam when we host the 2005 tournament here."

In men’s javelin, Danilo Fresnido heaved the spear to a distance of of 65.69-m, good for a silver, losing to China’s Qi Chen who captured the gold with a 76.45-m effort. In men’s long jump, Joebert Delicano placed a dismal sixth.

At presstime, Herrera was due to compete in the 300-m steeplechase, while Jimar Aing and Ernie Candelario advanced to the finals of the 400-m and Mercedita Manipol slated to vie in the women’s 10,000-m.