Tabal beats PH mark, meets Rio norm

MARY Joy Tabal broke the Philippine women’s marathon record in the Scotiabank Ottawa Marathon in Canada last Sunday and passed the qualifying standard for the Rio de Janeiro Olympics.

But the twin feats won’t help her gain an Olympic spot if she doesn’t get reinstated in the rolls of the Philippine Athletics Track and Field Association (Patafa).

“She has met the qualifying standard, but we have to check it officially, verify and validate,” said Patafa president Philip Ella Juico.

“If she did meet the time, that is the first step in the process of going to Rio. The second step is that she should be a member of the national team. She’s not,” added Juico.

The Cebu-based Tabal timed two hours, 43 minutes and 29 seconds and finished 39th in the Ottawa marathon, an event certified as a gold-label road race by the International Association of Athletic Federations (IAAF).

She bested the Olympic qualifying time of 2:45:00 while erasing the national record of 2:44.21 set by Jho-An Banayag in the Southeast Asian Games in Thailand in 2007.

“She resigned (from the national team),” said Juico of Tabal. “She has to write me or Patafa to state that she’s requesting reinstatement and present the certification that she achieved the qualifying time.”

The Patafa also needs to clarify with the IAAF whether the competition is an Olympic qualifying event, the Patafa chief said.

Tabal had a falling out with Patafa last year after the 2015 SEA Games silver medalist decided to participate in races not sanctioned by the association.

“We told her to desist from joining so many marathons,” said Juico. “We had a plan for her already, which obviously she didn’t like.”

Elite marathoners like Tabal are restricted to two full races a year. Sources said Tabal has competed in at least three since late last year.