Tabal carves historic feat, becomes first Cebuana national record-holder in marathon

CEBU, Philippines - Mary Joy Tabal had another date with history, this time on a bigger scale for becoming the first ever Cebuana national record-holder in marathon.

This she attained after emerging as the new queen of the National Milo Marathon yesterday at the SM Mall of Asia grounds in Pasay City.

Tabal proved it all that even with the presence of her archrival Mary Grace de los Santos, she can make her dreams come true.

Tabal actually placed second overall in the women's division behind Kenyan Margaret Njuguna. De los Santos, last year's winner, was relegated to third place this time.

With the foreign runners not counted in the overrall standings, Tabal was declared as the women's champion with the time of two hours and 48 minutes, enough to erase the seven-year old mark of 2:48:16  established by Jho-an Banayag in 2006.

“I beat Jho-an's (Banayag) time by 16 seconds. I still can't believe it. I was not even thinking about it. All I wanted is to finish the 42km race. I saw the time when I crossed the finish line, but breaking a record never crossed my mind,” said Tabal to The Freeman.

Though the first record-setter, Tabal is actually the second Cebuana to win the grand finals of the Milo Marathon after Thelma Montebon of Brgy. Capitol Site, according to athletics guru Dr. Danilo Villadolid. Montebon, who is now based in the United States, topped the crown in 1990 with a time of 3:14:36.

A decade later, the Cebu-based De los Santos snatched the title in 2011 but she is originally from Zamboanga. De los Santos defended her throne last year, but her bid for a historic three-peat was spoiled by Tabal.

“Grabe gyud akong kalipay. Our gameplan worked well,” said Tabal's coach and training partner Philip Duenas.

Tabal did not only etch her name in stone, she also went home P250,000 record. She got a P20,000 bonus for her record-establishing feat.

More than the monetary reward, Tabal and men's champion Eduardo Buenavista earned the right to  represent the country in the Paris Marathon next year.

Ricky Ballesteros, the Cebu leg organizer of the annual race, is as happy as Tabal for what the athletics varsity from Southwestern University had achieved.

“I'm always confident that she will win. She has the determination to follow her dreams. She made every athlete here realize and inspire that dreams really do come true,” Ballesteros said. (FREEMAN)