CEBU CITY — Dumaguete City’s Mereeis Ramirez was crowned the champion in the grueling All-Women’s Ultra Marathon last weekend.
Ramirez, known for being a strong and bemedalled contender in various marathons and fun runs in Cebu, showed her winning form by finishing the 50-kilometer race that started at the Cebu Provincial Capitol grounds at 10pm, and which finished at the Alta Cebu Village Resort in Cordova town in four hours, 38 minutes and 27 seconds.
Fellow veteran runner Sandra Soliano came in at second with a time of 4:43:34, while Jennifer Red Sabela rounded off the top three finishers with a time of 4:55:05.
Other local runners from the Dumaguete Adventure Runners & Striders (DARS) also made good time: Jennefer Catublas, who works at RUSI, came in seventh among 244 runners, in 5 hours 19 minutes. Maripol Rotea-Tecson, who manages DermCorner, came in at No. 14 in 5 hours 43 minutes, a good seven minutes ahead of her goal. Joyce Catacutan-Solomon, proprietor of JJMA Lending Investor was the 37th finisher at 6 hours 24 minutes. Earlier in December last year, Catublas, Tecson, and Solomon completed 102 kilometers from Dumaguete to Bayawan City.
Three more DARS running mommies who completed the 50-km ultramarathon were Dr. Vivian Sy of the SU Medical School with a time of 7 hours 5 minutes; Lilli Catan-Miller coming in at 7 hours 20 minutes; triathlete Flora Mae Datoy finishing her first ultramarathon at 7 hours 30 minutes.
Tecson recounted that at some point in the run after midnight, she was starting to experience some difficulty. “What kept me going was Ernan [Quiamco’s] challenge to beat my goal and his promise of treating me at City Burger. Fellow runner Joyce also challenged me to lunch at Mang Inasal if I beat my goal.”
For her part, Dr. Sy said the last six kilometers in the 50K race seemed to her the longest ever. “I just needed to wake up my memory cells, knowing that leg muscles do work in mysterious ways like magic. Despite the pain, I was motivated to run faster.” That was Dr. Sy’s seventh 50-kilometer ultramarathon.
This is the only running event in Cebu that is exclusive for women. This annual run is held in line with the celebration of the International Women’s Month every March.
Among the noted personalities who joined was Sen. Pia Cayetano, who finished at 62nd place with a time of 6:52:21. It was the Cayetano’s her first time to join an ultramarathon. (With reports from Cebu Daily News)
