FILIPINOS booked new world records yesterday in the Philippine Obstacle Course Racing 100-meter Open at the Arcovia City course in Pasig City.
Competing under a cloudy early morning Palm Sunday sky and carrying the cudgels for their sidelined teammates, Mark Julius Rodelas and Kaizen dela Serna went for broke in their third and last tries to rule the men’s and women’s elite divisions with times of 27.12 and 39.42 seconds, respectively.
Rodelas, 34, and Serna, 20, eclipsed the previous world marks of Kevin Pascua and Rochelle Suarez, who bagged the gold medals in the event in the 2019 Southeast Asian Games with clockings of 29.20 and 49.70 seconds, respectively, at the Filinvest City course in Alabang, Muntinlupa.
On hand to certify that both had indeed attained the milestone was American World Guinness Book of Records adjudicator Justin Patterson, who handed both Pinoy ninja athletes their certificates of recognition together with Philippine Obstacle Sports Federation president Atty. Al Agra.
Noted Polish ninja athletes Przemyslav Janczuk (28.11) and Jakub Zawitoski, a two-time national champion, (30.87) placed second and third in the elite men’s division, respectively, while Precious Cabuya was second (40.02) and Mhilky Mae Tejares third (44.68) on the distaff side.
“This is a dream. I can hardly believe it because this is the first time I have won a gold of any kind in my sports career. And a Guinness World record at that. Tunay na nakakatuwa talaga,” said Rodelas, a former runner with Emilio Aguinaldo College and bronze medalist at the 2019 SEA Games.
“I am absolutely honored and amazed by this achievement because I have been training hard for this event for the past months. I could have not done this without the support of my teammates and the support of Atty. Al,” Dela Serna, a 2019 SEA Games gold medalist in the 400-meter team assist, said.
“This is truly a wonderful occasion and a huge milestone for obstacle sports in our country with the new world records set by JMark (Rodelas’ nickname) and Kaizen. We are overjoyed because they are our children,” Agra, the father of the fast-growing millennial sport in the country, noted.
Rodelas and Dela Serna acknowledged they were pressured in the absence of Pascua, who was injured in the qualifying round and could not go on, and Suarez, who decided to take a break and was unable to compete in the two-day meet.
Compounding the pressure for Rodelas was the presence of his two Polish rivals, who were in town for vacation and were lured to compete at the prospect of getting into the illustrious record books of Guinness.
