There are a handful of sports which are considered very lonely. Swimming, for example, does not allow you to converse with anyone while training. This means hours and hours of solitude, even when surrounded by people. Although many other sports seem solitary, at least you’re able to talk to other people while doing it. Race walking or walkathon is another sport where being alone is expected, also because there are so few people doing it. And in most cases, they stop doing it after college.
Seventeen-year-old Sep Blessee Placido has been smashing records in race walking for years. She owns the UAAP record for both the 2,000- and 5,000-meter walk; the Palarong Pambansa secondary girls’ 2,000-meter walk; and she recently reset her own Philippine Junior Record in the 10,000-meter walk in the Palarong Pambansa in Ilocos last May. Funnily enough, she got into track to impress a crush, but it opened her eyes to her capability to rule this little-known event. In past years, people have made memes making fun of her form in running, out of lack of familiarity with the grueling event.
“Coming from a public school, I can see the big view of sports,” she explains. “Track and field is not just a rich person’s sport. You meet all sorts of people. I can see a lot of potential in this sport, a lot of athletes that strive to study for free, to gain their confidence. It’s not just for teenagers that the support is lacking in our country.”
After setting the Palaro record in 2023, Sep was poised for another breakthrough the following year. But due to improper lane measurements at the Cebu City Sports Complex’s track oval, her record at last year‘s Palaro was nullified. A simple 0.88-meter error dashed all the hard work she had put in. The teenager even needed a mental health break to recover from this devastating controversy.
“A lot of realizations came to my mind,” says the Grade 12 student. “Even if I don’t have anything to prove to anybody, it’s the sports mentality. It’s also a source of pride for me, my city and my region.”
Race walking appears unusual to the average person. It requires continuous ground contact and maintaining a straight leg upon landing. Over longer distances, you can build a grinding pain in your hip joint and posterior, which you have to push through. Beyond the physical and mental endurance needed, you need to maintain perfect form all throughout.
“You don’t always have good days,” Sep admits. “Even me, there are a lot of days I don’t feel like showing up. That’s how I differ from other athletes. I show up even if I don’t feel like it. Just set my mind to it. For me, everything is mental.”
And that kind of fortitude is what will keep Sep Placido a champion for many years to come. Even if she has to do it alone.