Members of the national athletics team will finally be able to go into physical training late this month.
They will go into a training camp bubble at the New Clark City Athletics stadium for two months beginning January 27.
The Philippine Athletics Track and Field Association, led by its president Philip Ella Juico, has finally gotten approval from the Interagency Task Force for the Management of Infectious Diseases to have their athletes to finally go into preparations for numerous international meets this year.
PATAFA’s Marketing and Communications chief Edward Kho said the workouts are meant to get national team members in shape for the rescheduled Tokyo Olympics in July and the Vietnam SEA Games in November.
After that, the national athletes are slated to take part in the rescheduled 2020 Ayala Philippine Athletics Championships in the same venue from March 19 to 21.
Meanwhile, a virtual running event this February will get the programs of the PATAFA going on a bright note.
One of them is the Fineguard Sport National Half-Marathon Virtual Challenge, which will be a 21-km distance event from Feb. 22 to 28.
Designed for participants, who are at home during the pandemic, it will be a weeklong event that can be done indoors or outdoors.
Runners can do their running on a treadmill or on the road with one continuous session of running within the day or at any time during a 24-hour period.
Participants do not have to necessarily continuously run, since they may opt to walk some or run to cover large portions of the distance.
By April, the PATAFA will hold a series of national technical officiating courses, meant to improve the level of athletics in the country by creating a basic level of officiating skills at the grassroots level.