INQUIRER Sports

MANILA, Philippines -- Running a distance of 102 kilometers is a daunting challenge by itself but 65 out 81 participants who signed up for the first Bataan Death March ultramarathon managed to cross the finish line within the cut-off time of 18 hours.

At 12:33 in the morning of April 5, 2009, (Ret.) AFP Major General Jovenal ?Jovie? Narcise?s dream became a reality. Popularly known within the local running community as the Bald Runner, it took him nine months to organize this ultramarathon.

Runners converged at the Bataan Death March Heroes Park in Mariveles, Bataan and ran towards the 102 kilometer mark in San Fernando, Pampanga that served as the finish line.

The ultramarathon is in commemoration of the 67th Bataan Death March, which dates back in April 1942 when Filipino and American war veterans suffered in the hands of the Japanese armed forces.

?We would like to help the survivors (of the Bataan Death March). This event is also intended to promote ultramarathon, which will be included in the 2012 Olympics,? Narcise said.

Any race beyond the standard 42-kilometer marathon distance is considered an ultramarathon. Narcise stressed that in an ultramarathon, it is not a matter of finishing the race with the fastest time but more about getting to the finish line.

?The strategy is to be able to finish. We don?t talk about speed or number of minutes. We try to test the limit of our bodies? endurance,? he said.

In his blog, Narcise wrote: ?The actual race started after the 50-km mark at Abucay, Bataan when it was already 7:30 AM with the sun starting to rise up in the horizon. From this point, it was a battle of the mind, body and the environment. PAGASA made a wrong prediction of cloudy skies for the day. Instead, it was a typical summer-hot day for the race.?

Eduardo Villanueva crossed the finish line first with a record of 9 hours, 09 minutes and 56 seconds followed by Jessie Ano with 9 hours, 36 minutes, and 10 seconds while Manito Corpus placed third with 9 hours, 54 minutes, and 44 seconds.

Narcise, meanwhile, placed 30th and finished the race in less than 15 hours.