Hurdles ace a salesman on the side

NAYPYITAW—Unlike any other full-time Filipino athlete, hurdler Eric Shauwn Cray has to work eight hours a day to make both ends meet.

The 25-year-old Filipino-American works as a salesman at Dillard’s, a chain of upscale department stores in the United States, to support his training to be in top form.

“I work to buy my stuff, including the things that I need for training,” said Cray, who traveled halfway across the world to race for the country in the track and field competitions of the 27th Southeast Asian Games.

With a tight itinerary, he has no choice but to train only when the schedule permits.

“I train three times a week at the most,” said Cray, who lives with his Filipino mother, Maria, in San Antonio, Texas.

Cray ruled the men’s 400-meter hurdles in 51.28 seconds to help boost the country’s gold in track and field to six. He finished just a split second faster than Indonesia’s Andrian Andrian (51.74) and Vietnam’s Xuan Cuong Dao (51.79).

“I’m preparing for the Asian Games (in Incheon, Korea) and hopefully my clocking in the 110 gets better,” he said.

Cray’s victory in the 400m hurdles qualifies him for a monthly financial assistance of P40,000 from the PSC.

“That’s great. But it’s not enough I guess. I still have to work at Dillard’s,” he said.