AFTER reaping medals in the local running scene, Baguio City’s Christabel Martes guns for a slot in the podium for the upcoming New York City Marathon slated November 4.
Martes, who recently topped the Pangasinan leg of the 42nd National Milo Marathon will be seeing action in the 42 kilometer race where she vows to improve her best time of 2:38 she clocked during a national marathon in 2005.
The former national marathon queen got a slot in the New York race after topping the 2017 Run Rio trilogy race’s three-leg series.
Martes will be joined by male top finisher Jojie Dagaas.
“Orginally, we were slated to race in the prestigious Chicago marathon this year courtesy of RUNRIO but due to some conflict with schedule, we will instead race in New York,” said the former Southeast Asian Games athlete.
Martes said training has been continuous since early this year bagging a gold medal during the Philippine National Games in the women’s 10,000-meter run, clocking 40 minutes and 11.5 seconds in wet conditions.
At 38 years old, Martes is considered as one of the most accomplished long distance runner in Baguio City having won the women’s marathon in the SEA Games in Kuala Lumpur in 2001 and Manila in 2005.
The New York City Marathon is the largest marathon in the world and the signature event of New York Road Runners (NYRR), the world’s premier community running organization held annually on the first Sunday of November which lures over 50,000 runners, from the world’s top professional athletes to runners of all ages and abilities, including over 9,000 charity runners.
Participants from approximately 140 countries tour the diverse neighborhoods of New York City’s five boroughs—Staten Island, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, and Manhattan.
Race morning also features the Rising New York Road Runners Youth Invitational at the TCS New York City Marathon, a race within Central Park that finishes at the same finish line being crossed hours later by the marathon field. More than one million spectators and 10,000 volunteers line the city’s streets in support of the runners, while millions more watch the globally televised broadcast. (Roderick Osis)