The following day is the Men's Open. Seven from the Philippine contingent will compete on this category, 5 from PSA and the two from Bukidnon. We are now relaxed being just the support of the guys, we are their yaya at this time. I can feel their excitement and anxiety. As usual we need to wake up early and be at the start point as early as the runners. Now the men's open has lesser but stronger and younger runners. This is a gathering of the strongest of all.
Just before the gun start when Nina already said the prayer, we already find a spot where we can have a better view of the start of the race. We settled at the gate of Timpohon. Seeing the men pass by us is just amazing. We cheer not just to our team but to all. We know what they will exactly undergo having a much shorter cut off than us 2 hours 30 minutes to the summit and 2 hours to the finish line.
After all of them pass by our spot we decided to take a buffet breakfast, I know I deserve it despite my keeping a tight budget. After yesterday's race I said deserve a good meal. While eating we can hear the update from the finish line who is leading, it's Marco de Gasperi from Italy followed by Kilian. After eating we now find a spot where we can have a best view of our runners. Marco retained his record being the fastest to ascend the summit, he still is the first one to reach at this time but he did no break his record. As we can now hear the police patrol coming we now know the first runner is almost to the finish line. To all our surprise it's not Marco that run first, it's Kilian. He run with all his might just to pass Marco on the road to the finish line.
Since first runner up to the last few including our guys we acted as the cheerer to all the male runners. It just feels great seeing them all passing by us almost crossing the finish line having been able to finish the race. Doing this is just fun. Our very own Jemarvin Cabilan made it to the 11th place followed by Leo Colonia on the 12th place. Leo got injured on his descend after Laban Rata, his face on blood while passing us. No one from our boys made it to the summit cut off but we waited and cheered for them until all of them cross the finish line.
The festivities ended with a lunch at the gymnasium before the awarding of medals and prizes to all the winners. It's just fun being on this kind of atmosphere, being with the best trail runners world wide. I am just glad I decided to join this race, I meet new friends both from the Philippines and from other countries, the festive atmosphere and the emotions that goes with it is just something to keep for the rest of my life.
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