Photo shows (from left to right) Abdul Mohammed Sherwin Managil, Mervin Guarte, Melissa Campos, Silamie Gutang, Jeffrey Reginio, Sandi Menchi Abahan, Marites Nocyao and head coach,Thumbie Remigio.
Abahan 3rd in Abu Dhabi race
THE Philippines’ pride Sandhi Menchi Abahan made history by becoming the first Asian to make it to the podium of the Spartan World Championships in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
Abahan, who is best remebered as a member of the Philippine Obstacle Course Racing (OCR) team in the 2019 Doiuitheast Asian Games in Manila, did well enough to complete a remarkable third-place finish at the Beast 21K Elite World Championship held in the popular capital city located on an island in the Persian Gulf, off the Central West Coast.
“Gaya nga ng lagi kong sinasabi, I am always proud to represent our country and our association, Pilipinas Obstacle Sports Federation (POSF) dahil nga kung hindi sa kanila, wala naman kami dito ngayon,” Abahan told Rome, Italy-based Alona Cochon.
“After dito, I will focus on recovery, rehab for injury. I will be with my family again and start training when my body is ready to train again,” added Abahan, who joined the national team back in 2019.
Asked about her training and preparations for the Spartan World Championships in Abu Dhabi, Abahan saidshe prepared long and hard for the event.
“This year, meron kaming national qualifying races. We did them to give us an idea of how the 3KM format would feel like. For the 21km, I joined Beast races, long distance runs/ultra races just to maintain the endurance on my system. At para hindi nawawala yung strength, may workout sa gym,” explained.Abahan.
“I had an injury though that started from our last event in Belgium and the two consecutive na 50km ultra that I joined kaya my run training was restricted to hills, trail and elevation training because it would trigger my injury. Kaya in preparation for this for run training, I tried to save my leg for this event and tried my best to suffer on the treadmill and oval and a lot of rehab work.”
Abahan said obstacle racing is always one of her favorite sports.
“Napili ko ang obstacle course racing kasi it brings back my playground child hood memories, at sa mga sports na nagawa ko bago OCR. Gusto ko talaga ng mga challenges and OCR gave me that challenge na I kept trying to conquer and trying to improve every timeI race,”said Abahan, who credited one of her teammates in trailrunning for introducing her to obstacle course racing just befoe the SEA Games in Manila in 2019.
“I want to be better in each race na i join, I know na kung walang challenge, I will not get better and this also is like our life challenges na we have to conquer obstacles to be able to move forward and improve.”
