THE KENYANS ARE BEATEN!

 

Top, "Vertik" Buenvavista photo by

Joven Cagande of Philippine Star. 

Bottom, Alley Quisay photo by

Jun Mendoza of Philippine Star

Finally, the Kenyans are beaten!

“Vertik” Buenavista overtook two Kenyans on his way to winning the Century Tuna 21K half-marathon held at Bonifacio Global City in Taguig last Sunday.

Buenavista, the reigning SEA Games marathon champion and Philippine marathon record holder, clocked 1:08:18 to top Willy Tanui (the Cebu City Marathon winner) and Willy Rotich. Tanui and Rotich came in at 1:10:13 and 1:10:15, respectively.

Some weeks back, Alley Quisay darted from the last 10 meters to beat Kember Kiberless in the PSC Run for Heart 10K race last February 15.

Quisay, who lost at least two races to Kiberless, lulled his rival into complacency then darted out of nowhere to beat the Kenyan. The 30-year-old veteran from Bolinao, Pangasinan, clocked 31:27. Kiberless came in at 31:29.

In the Condura Run for the Dolphins, Feb. 7, Elmer and Crisenciano Sabal nearly upended David Kipsang in the full marathon. Elmer and Crisenciano were running toe-to-toe with Kipsang until the 38^th kilometer mark. But when Kipsang made his move, only Elmer could give chase because Cris had cramps.

Kipsang finished with a time of 2:38:02 while Elmer had a time of 2:38:59. His brother Cris, who finished third, submitted a time of 2:39: 40.

If there’s a good thing about this, it’s the fact that the gap between Kenyans and Pinoys are narrowing.

The Bald Runner, in his blog in January, said that his team is learning a lot from the Kenyans and it wouldn’t be too long when the locals would beat the Kenyans.

In local races, Simon Losiaboi finally lost a race after he was DQ’d last Sunday in the 2^nd Rotary Fun Run. Losiaboi was penalized after he used another bib number. He was given the #1 race number (when he was registered) in deference to his lofty billing in local running contests but his patron Tyrone Tan came late and was unable to give the race bib to his ward.

Mendel Lopez took the crown and the champion’s pot.

Lopez was leading Losiaboi until the last 100 meters when the latter broke away and left Lopez for what could have been a come-from-behind victory.

It wasn’t meant to be.

Race officials lowered the boom on Losiaboi after Lopez and other runners formally lodged a protest. I saw the handwritten protest signed by Lopez and other runners with the protest fee attached to it.

It was the second time Losiaboi used a different race bib. In the Kasadya Run, he used a different bib number but never penalized because the other runners didn’t lodge a protest.

A few weeks back, Elmer Bartolo nearly turned the tables on Losiaboi in the Run for Smile 10K race. Bartolo submitted a time of 33:41.47, a minute or so slower than Losiaboi’s winning time of 32:23.15.

While a minute would mean a lead of at least 200 meters, but the gap is getting narrow as well in local races.

I spoke to Elmer during one of my morning gigs at the oval and he said that if there was another runner with him, they could give Simon a big headache.

Elmer said Simon run behind him all the time as he dictated the pace. If there was another runner who could block off Simon, Bartolo feels that he could finally put an end to Simon’s domination of local races.

Of course, it means local runners have to train harder so they could run Simon’s pace.

Elmer said he’s amazed at the strength of Simon. During speed training, not only could he run fast but also his recover time is so short!

I wish we could compare notes with The Bald Runner, whose runners – the Sabal Brothers – nearly pull the rug from Kipsang.

Then there’s Vertik who proved that the Kenyans are beatable.

I noticed that when the Kenyans were winning last year Buenavista and many of our national female runners was busy preparing for the SEA Games. Now that there’s no forthcoming international competition to prepare for, I’m expecting some fierce rivalry between the Kenyans and Vertik.

And I’ll put a wager on Vertik, any time!