Tabal led almost the full length of the race and clocked in with a time of about 2 hours and 48 minutes and 26 minutes, more than 7 minutes ahead of the second placer and improving her silver medal finish 2 years ago in the 2015 SEA games. She beat 6 other female runners, including 2015 SEA Games winner Natthaya Thanaronnawat of Thailand.
The silver medal went to Hoang Thi Thanh of Vietnam (2:55:43) while the bronze was won by Natthaya Thanaronnawat of Thailand (2:58:17).
Here is her winning moment as posted in Camille Naredo's Twitter account:
Mary Joy Tabal crosses the finish line! What a performance! pic.twitter.com/RYjzSP6vEZ— Camille B. Naredo (@camillenaredo) August 19, 2017
Tabal, an Olympian and a 4-peat winner of the Milo Marathon, almost did not make it to the national team for the SEA Games after some dispute with PATAFA, the country's athletics association. She was later reinstated after agreeing to a compromise. This is just a validation that she really belongs to the national team.
With this win, Tabal ends the Philippines' 8 year gold medal drought in SEA Games marathon. The last time Philippines won a gold medal was in 2009 in Laos when both Eduardo Buenavista and Jho-An Banayag ruled both the men's and women's races.
On the men's side, Jeson Agravante failed to finish in the men's marathon race after getting cramps a few kilometers to the finish line.
Congratulations to Mary Joy for this golden performance and thank you Jeson for representing the country!
#LabanPilipinas
