The North Face 100 (CamSur)

Josiah and the other podium finishers for the TNF100 men's 50K in Camsur

The TNF100 CamSur has just finished and I was there to witness its kickoff with a sound of a gunshot at 0400hrs on the 30^th of April and its culmination with the limping runners and their blistered feet on May 1^st. I saw familiar faces like those of Jules Picato (runningmistress.blogspot.com) who finished 4^th in the women’s 50K event, Charina Javier who finished 4^th in the women’s 22K and other runners in the 2^nd Annual Hungduan Climbathon. I was there not to run but to bring a dream ready to be realized.

I heard of Josiah's story during my stay in their home last month

When I climbed Mt Tabayoc in April my guide Santiago Ballagan told me of his son Josiah who competed in this year’s Cordillera Administrative Region Athletic Association (CARAA) bringing home two medals—a silver and a bronze in the men’s 5000m and 3000m distance runs respectively. He was scheduled to run in the 2011 Palarong Pambansa in Dapitan this May but his coach told him of his inclusion in the team when they were already on the ship bound for Dapitan and we were already in CamSur. The moment I heard the boy’s story, I knew I’ve found the golden boy in Philippine sky running and trail running. I had no second thoughts signing him up for the 50K event as soon as I got back to Manila from Benguet. I believed in him! He doesn’t train to run. Running is his lifestyle. Growing up in a remote sitio in Ballay, Kabayan, Benguet, he is used to travelling more than 30 kilometers on foot and at altitudes over 2000masl. His vegetarian diet also reassured me that Manila runners don’t stand a chance against him!

training in Baguio

And so after my Bakun Trio during the Holy Week, I watched him train in Baguio for a couple of days. Then I brought him to Manila and got him accustomed to the weather and thick air. April 28, we headed for Camsur. We stayed at Moraville Hotel with Xerxis Tan and his friends, one of whom was Carlisle Carly Dizon who finished 3^rd in the women’s 50K.  Josiah promised to finish the 50K race within five hours. We both believed that it was a generous time frame. He can run from his school near the DENR office in Ambangeg to his house in Ballay (more than 45 kilometers away) within four hours without hydration and elite foot gear.

The 50K race started at 0500hrs. The route was on the slope of Mt Isarog. Josiah led the pack during the first 20K of the race. He roused marshals in around seven tents along the trail and from time to time he would be stopped by the marshals and media people to have his pictures taken for promotional purposes or to be interviewed. After the 27K water/aide station, he came upon a fork—one trail goes up and the other, relatively flat. There was a sign on the upward trail so he followed it for about five hundred meters until he realized he couldn’t see other trail signs anymore. He backtracked and this was the time he was overtaken by the two runners from Bukidnon, who also had gotten lost in the earlier phase of the race.  According to the marshal that he talked to, the sign must have been moved by local pranksters the night before. The sign was situated next to a local’s house. In the remainder of the trail, his legs got cramped one after the other. This was the time the runner from Laguna overtook him. Some 100K runners, who were running the trail in the opposite direction, offered help while he sat for about thirty minutes. When he recovered, it was already a downhill run so the pain was not much of an ordeal. 

the 1st and 2nd placers in the men's 50K (both from Bukidnon)

He finished the race fourth with a time of 6 hours and 32 minutes (unofficial time)—seventeen minutes behind the runner from Laguna. And everyone should know that the 1^st and 2^nd placers in the 50K this year were 4^th and 3^rd placers respectively in last year’s 100K event. The 3^rd placer was also a runner-up in last year’s 22K event while the 5^th placer this year was, I heard, the defending champion for the 50K event. Indeed that was an impressive performance for a first timer in an ultramarathon. And even more impressive knowing that he could have done much better if only he had had better training and a better coach.

GMA 7 crew

When he finished the race, he was a favorite among interviewers and even his fellow runners. And the organizers were wondering why the interviewers kept going up to him and setting interviews with him and not the top three finishers. The interviewers and the runners in the lead pack couldn’t help asking ‘Anong nangyari sa’yo?’ (What happened to you?!). They were all expecting him to finish first. When you’re a runner, you know whom you can catch up with and whom you can’t. And trust me! It’s difficult to keep up with this boy’s pace.

He may not have earned a title in this year’s Thrill of the Trail but I promise you all that you’ll be seeing his name in lists of top five’s in many more trail running and sky running races to come. He’s just turned seventeen. He’s got a long bright future ahead of him!

the Kenyan who ruled the men's 100K

with the 52-year-old Eduardo Villanueva who finished 2nd in the men's 100K

complete list @ http://www.thenorthface100.com.ph/race-results