Stop the Kenyans?

A few years back, I wrote in my column “How do you stop the Kenyans?” At that time, running here in the Philippines was not like “hotcakes” and the Kenyans don’t even know where the Philippines is. In the PAL Manila Marathon for instance, it was always dominated by Europeans especially the Russians and the Italians. In that column, I disagreed with the suggestions of most American runners to ban or limit the participation of Kenyans. Well, I’m sure they were alarmed what with the Africans sweeping almost always the top ten places.The organizers of The New York City Marathon , The New York Runners Club believed it was a violation of human rights, “Is it our fault if we are fast? ”, said Simon Losaiboi, who won every race in Cebu two years ago when I told him local runners want to ban him. Manila runners consider the Kenyans as pests, even proposing to the Bureau of Immigration to check on their papers while asking them to apply for work permits. But as some Kenyan friends of mine like Kennedy Momanyi (2:10) said, they cannot be blamed if they are dominating long distance running around the globe. “ It’s our way of life, at an early age, say 5 years old, we run to school and back which is probably 10 kilometers away.” “ Wala pa na’y sapatos, ha?” I understand most of these Kenyans are based in Malaysia which served as their jumping point in Southeast Asia. They also have a schedule of races where they deploy runners in every category. Last Sunday’s Cebu City Marathon was no exception; in the top ten, only two Filipinos managed to sneak in. “Naa pa jud sa ilalom.” Richard Mustisya got the justice he wanted after initially relegated to second place. He won the marathon in 2:28:41 (that’s the clocking I predicted when asked for the winning running time), after John Kprop was disqualified. “Naa jud ta hustisya dinhi.” As I said, Noel Tillor and Dandy Maturan settled for the crumbs, placing 8th and 10th respectively. It was the same story in the distaff side as Kenyan Joan Jeruto won in 3:13:28. In the 21K, Mendel Lopez could only manage fifth place as four Kenyans swept the first 4 places with Samson Tuwei emerging as champion in 1:10:08. Mary Grace de los Santos gave us a little respect as she prevented a Kenyan sweep ruling the 21K women side in 1:24:38. “ Talagang amazing si Grace”. Congratulations to the Cebu Executive Runners Club for again coming up with a successful race. Take a bow, guys!

Enchanting Elvis

Elvis Presley would have been 77 years old last Sunday if he were alive. The King died in August of 1977 at age 42. But who said The King is dead?   Sam Costanilla said he is very much alive. In fact he will be guesting at Sam Enchanted Evening on CCTN Channel 47 tomorrow at 10pm. Sam said “murag bitiin” if only limited to one appearance, so on his next episode, on Thursday (Jan 12), Elvis will return at the same time slot . The show’s other host Ate Ging said “nisakit iyang tuhod” as she can’t help dancing to “Blue Suede Shoes”. And by the way, Elvis will sing Vice Guv Agnes Magpale’s favorite “ Wooden Heart”. After she personally texted Elvis in his “grave” in Graceland, Memphis , Tenn. Well, Vice Guv, “that’s not hard to do, cause I don’t have a wooden heart.”