Philippine obstacle sports body set for race-packed year

MANILA, Philippines – The Pilipinas Obstacle Sports Federation isn’t slowing down despite the pandemic.

POSF president Al Agra on Wednesday said they have lined up several races for the national team the whole year, including one where Kevin Pascua and Rochelle Suarez will try to officially set new Guinness World Records (GWR) in an event set April 9-10 at the Arcovia City in Pasig.

Pascua is the fastest man in the 100-meter Obstacle course with a time of 29.92 seconds while Suarez was tops in the women’s side with a clocking of 49.70 seconds.

If the two, who are both Southeast Asian Games gold medalists, could register faster times in Arcovia, they would be officially enlisted as world-record holders in the GWR record books.

“After 42 firsts in the five years since the POSF was established in January, 2017, we at POSF are setting our sights for more firsts in the next five months and the next five years,” said POSF president Atty. Al Agra in yesterday’s presser at the Café Rizal in Manila.

The POSF will also hold the Ninja and Track Oval events at the Obstacle Sports Factory from March 4-6 with the winners qualifying to the Ultimate Ninja Athletics Association World Championships slated in July in Las Vegas, Nevada.

A total of 58 gyms from 21 countries are simultaneously holding their own races that serves as qualifying races to the Las Vegas meet.

On May 14-15, the Vermosa Sports Hub in Imus, Cavite will host two events — the OCR 400m and OCR 800m where the champions will advance to the World Championships in Moscow, Russia tentatively set in August, the OSF Asian Championship in Bahrain in November and the OSF AP Southeast Asian Championships in Malaysia in October.

The POSF has also set an Altitude OCR tilt in Mount Pulag in the Cordilleras from March 25-27 with the titlists representing the country in the World Championships in Mt. Everest in Nepal in November and the World Finals in Mount Toubkal in Morroco in August.

But Agra said the one in Arcovia would be the most significant since there is a chance the country will set a Guinness World Record.

“The event is another milestone. We will have official adjudicators from the GWR and World Obstacle (the world governing body of the sport),” said Agra, who said the Philippine Sports Commission is backing their races.

The POSF has reached great heights since its inception five years back including a perfect six-gold medal haul in the 2019 Southeast Asian Games in Alabang.