Martes caps athletics’ nine-gold medal haul

Cristabel Martes yesterday delivered the ninth and last gold medal of the RP track team in the 23rd Southeast Asian Games by ruling the women’s marathon at the Rizal Memorial Stadium.

Martes was the clear winner, almost leading the 42.195 km race from start to finish. She was mobbed by relatives and friends the moment she crossed the finish at the near-empty stadium.

"I’m so happy. I’m very happy," she said after finishing the race in two hours 47.07 seconds. Taking the silver was Indonesia’s Marince Subnafeu (2:54.23) and the bronze Myanmar’s Pa Pa (2:54.55).

The victory somehow made up for the painful losses of Filipinos Roy Vence and Allan Ballester in the men’s side. They were figured to win the race, both being former winners. But a Thai runner by the name of Boonchoo Jandacha had plans of his own.

The Thai, who was hardly considered a threat by the Filipinos, quickly made his presence felt during the race, running side by side with the two locals and never letting go.

Heading into the final 15 kms of the race, the Thai made his move. And to his surprise, both Ballester, the defending champion, and Vence, the 2001 winner, failed to keep up.Ten kilometers later, along Macapagal Ave. leading to the Rizal Memorial Stadium, Boonchoo was ahead of the two Filipinos by close to 200 meters. It was obvious by then that he had everything in control. By this time, athletics president Go Teng Kok knew that his men had failed to deliver.

"The Thai is strong. There’s no way they can catch him. GTK is in trouble," he said. He had promised to win at least 10 golds in athletics and, counting that of Martes, only had nine to show. Boonchoo won in 2:29.27, a clocking which shouldn’t even be good for the bronze. Vence and Ballester, both running around 2:23 in recent marathons, submitted times of 2:30.11 and 2:32.25 yesterday.

"Cristabel is really good. She won the gold in 2001 in Malaysia and only skipped the Vietnam SEA Games because of an injury. But I’m disappointed with my men," he said.

Martes had to finish the race with a pebble in her left shoe. Somehow late in the race, it found its way inside her shoe. But she couldn’t afford to stop and remove it.

"I knew that if I stopped, the others would close in. So I just endured the pain. It was really getting painful in the end," said Martes, this time showing a big blister on her left foot.

Vence and Ballester made a final run at the leader as they entered the CCP grounds. But it was only the former who succeeded in narrowing the gap so late in the race.

The Thai, standing at least 5-foot-7, was already halfway through the oval when Vence came in, cheered on by the crowd despite the fact that he was just running for the silver.

"As much as I wanted, I couldn’t win the race. He was too good for me. He was in better shape," said Vence, who could have won the race if only he came close to his best time of 2:22. Ballester also took his hat off to the Thai winner.