Pinoy completes grueling Mt Fuji marathon

MANILA, Philippines – Still recuperating from a grueling 36-kilometer trek up Japan’s highest peak, veteran Filipino runner Ronald Villafria said he is thankful for his experience in last month’s Mount Fuji Marathon. Villafria, 34 and a long-time restaurant employee in the island of Saipan in the US territory of the Northern Mariana Islands, managed to conquer Mount Fuji’s 12,388-feet peak after competing in the Mount Fuji Marathon last July 25. He was among the 1,200 runners who crossed the finish line in the race known locally as the Fuji Tozan. Villafria ran the Mount Fuji Marathon for the first time, finishing the race in four hours and 20 minutes just 10 minutes ahead of the cutoff time. He finished 800th overall. More than 3,000 runners signed up for the Mount Fuji race, a popular racing event that attracts the best runners around the world. The race began with a 15K uphill run then slowly changed to a trail run where runners climbed the final 21 kilometers. He said finishing the race was his main objective. “Hindi ko naman talaga target na manalo," said Villafria. Prior to the Mount Fuji Marathon, Villafria has won numerous international and local races in Saipan where he consistently finished in the top three. He also participated in several running events in the Philippines before arriving on Saipan to work in 1992. “Making the cutoff in the race was the most challenging part. Late kasi kami nag-start dahil pinauna ang mga repeat participants," said Villafria in an email. The Mount Fuji Marathon is a two-stage race where cutoff times are also observed in the each stage. Runners trek uphill and in single file where they have to wait for those ahead of them to climb first before taking their turn. Villafria, who ran less than three hours in one of his practice sessions before the July 25 event, said he thought he would not make it into the 2:20 cutoff time in the 15K stage but managed to register at 2:09 earning him the chance to move on in the last 21K trek up Mount Fuji’s summit. He clocked in at 2:11 in the final stage. Before being a long-distance runner, Villafria started as a sprinter running the 50m and 100m runs in athletics while in his elementary and high-school years in Aliaga, Nueva Ecija. He slowly shifted to long-distance running when he first joined the 1992 Tour of Rizal, which is an eight-stage race that started in Antipolo, where he finished third overall. He then finished in the top 10 of the 1992 edition of the Milo Marathon where he met Simon Reyes, who helped him get the proper running gear. “I was wearing K-Swiss shoes and not running shoes at that time," said Villafria. Villafria then left the Philippines to work as a cow and horse herder in the CNMI, arriving in the island of Tinian in 1992. “I have not run a long time after the Milo Marathon but I worked chasing cows and horses in Tinian." Mount Fuji is located between the boundaries of Shizuoka and Yamanashi prefectures just west of Tokyo. – GMANews.TV