DABAWENYO Roel Ano clinched the men's master 20,000-meter walk gold medal Saturday in the Philippine National Open Invitational Championship 2017 at the Ilagan City Sports Complex in Isabela.
Philippine Air Force Team-bbgrun.ph's Ano, who hails from Barangay Wines, Baguio District, Davao City, clocked a total of two hours and 18 minutes to race past next three finishers Manuel Oyaw and Zaldo Gara of Marikina City and Garry Baniqued of Makati City.
The golden finish improved his silver performance last year in the same event.
Ano, however, failed to break his own personal record of one hour and 47 minutes.
"Naka-training ko mga one month pero dagan ug trekking lang kay naga-training ko ug dagan preparasyon this May 5 para sa Borneo International Half Marathon (I trained one month for this national open as part of my preparations for the Borneo International Half Marathon)," he said in a Facebook chat interview.
But Ano, who also trains celebrities like Iza Calzado and Denise Laurel, said it was unfortunate that there was no team from Davao City that competed in the annual trackfest this year.
Meanwhile, Nova Belle Migellano Tega of Team Blue Knights (Ateneo de Davao University) pocketed the women's shot put gold.