Overcoming obstacles

Mervin Guarte leaves no doubt he is No. 1. –RICHARD A. REYES

Mervin Guarte fought back tears as he recalled a whirlwind last few months when he went from being dropped from the national athletics team to standing at the top of the podium in the 30th Southeast Asian Games on Friday.

Along the way, there was a medical emergency that threw off his training schedule and an opponent from Malaysia that arrived in the SEA Games with a big reputation.

But the gold medal that had eluded Guarte since he started representing the country as a middle distance runner in the biennial meet eight years ago was finally on his neck–albeit in a different venue and a different event.

As champion of the men’s 5K x 20 obstacle, the 28-year-old Guarte–a five time silver medalist in athletics–capped a six-gold haul for the country in the obstacle course racing (OCR) event, which made its Games debut at Filinvest Alabang in Muntinlupa.

“I switched to OCR because I felt this was my best chance of winning the gold,” said Guarte, the national record holder in the 1500m, who clocked 25 minutes and 31 seconds to rule his event.

Sherwin Managil made it a 1-2 finish for the Philippines after checking in at 26:16. Two-time Asian spartan race king Mohd Pittli Mohd Saddam of Malaysia took the bronze in 28:02.

“I still don’t know why I was dropped from the [athletics] team, but at least I proved that I can win the gold here,” said Guarte.

Sandi Abahan took the gold in the women’s race, clocking 33 minutes and 30 seconds.

Abahan, a special education teacher based in Baguio, struggled scaling the wall obstacle due to humid conditions, but still had more than enough cushion to hold off teammate Merisco Glorien, who took the silver with a time of 40 minutes.

The Philippines also swept the mixed team and mixed assist relay races, after Kevin Pascua and Rochelle Suarez nailed the gold medals in the 100M x 10 obstacle events.

Guarte used his vast experience as a runner in OCR, but the Bungabog, Oriental Mindoro, native insists navigating the obstacles entails more skills and strength.

“I knew I have an advantage because I’m a strong runner,” he said. “I just needed to improve my skills in dealing with obstacles and improve my lower and upper body.”

The road to the top was not without adversity for Guarte and even for Managil, who lost almost all of his belongings in a fire that hit his dormitory in Cebu early this month.

A medical condition on his 7-month old son, Bien Marcus, also forced Guarte to momentarily stop training just three weeks before the SEA Games.

“My son was in the ICU and I wanted to win it for him,” said Guarte.