Wellington Yao (center) completes his 100th marathon during Sunday’s 41st Milo Marathon Metro Manila leg at MOAgrounds where friends waited at the finish line. —EDWIN BACASMAS
Some dream of completing at least one full marathon in their lifetime.
And then there’s Wellington Yao, who on Sunday crossed the finish line of a 42.195-kilometer race for the 100th time.
If that’s not impressive enough, Yao is already 67 years old.
Friends escorted the exhausted Yao in the last 400 meters of the 41st Milo Marathon’s National Capital Region elimination leg held Sunday at Mall of Asia grounds in Pasay City.
A huge banner greeted Yao to celebrate his extraordinary achievement. Among his well-wishers was elder sister, Betty, who flew in from the United States unannounced.
Yao’s unofficial time, as per the timer of his wife, Emily, was 5 hours and 57 seconds.
“Sorry for scaring everyone,” the amiable Yao said, adding it was the first time he almost failed to finish a race. “They thought I suffered a heart attack.”
“I suffered from electrolyte imbalance but I’m okay. I do not remember much, except seeing the finish line 400 meters away.”
Yao’s first full marathon event was the 1987 Philippine Airlines (PAL) Marathon, which he finished in 3 hours and 46 minutes.
There was no stopping him from there. Seven years later, through the PAL Marathon again, he qualified for the 1995 Boston Marathon, the world’s oldest marathon.
Yao clocked 4:04.00 in the Boston race, held every third Monday of April. He said he was the only Filipino among the 8,700 runners, a little over 1,000 of whom are non-Americans.
“I love the challenge and the fulfillment of finishing a race,” said the 5-foot-10 Yao, a chemical engineering graduate of De La Salle.
Yao conquered more challenges along the way, including being part of the Pinoy Ultra Runners, a group of 10 who ran 94 kilometers from Tarlac to Clark in Pampanga and Clark to Subic in Olongapo, Zambales, in 2007.
“We were given permission to use the Subic–Clark–Tarlac Expressway (SCTEx) one year before it was opened for public use,” recalled Yao, who is fondly called Uncle Willy by fellow runners and triathletes.
To date, he has completed 11 ultra marathons and several triathlons.
Prior to the Milo event, he stopped triathlon for a year to train for his 100th marathon. His training included running at least four hours on Sundays.
When not out on the streets, Yao tends to the family business, a factory that manufactures welding nodes.
His wife played college ball for University of the Philippines and like their three children, although they engage in various athletic activities, are not into running.
“I guess I can’t force them to do what I want but I will continue running for as long as my legs could carry me,” said Yao.
Rafael Pescos and Cinderella Lorenzo ruled the 42K qualifier of the men’s and women’s divisions, respectively.
Pescos clocked 2:38:27 while Lorenzo submitted 3:16:15. They pocketed P50,000 each and earned slots to the National Finals slated Dec. 3 in Cebu. More than 30,000 joined Sunday’s Milo event.