Members of the Philippine national team will be selected from the participants of the ongoing 2019 Asian OCR Championships at the Quirino Grandstand where close to 200 obstacle course runners from 10 countries are taking part.
National coach Raven Quan said this right before participants from Australia, Malaysia, Thailand, Guam, Hong Kong, Singapore, Indonesia, Marianas, and Vietnam took on local bets in three separate categories.
“We are choosing the national team, and it will come from those who perform well in the race,” said Quan.
Last February, eight top members of the national squad were sent to Colorado to train with members of the national team in the United States.
Among those who excelled were Nitz Sanchez in the women’s side, and the pair of Manolito Divina and BJ Miranda in the men’s side.
Participants took part in three events, the 100-meter run with 10 obstacles, the five-kilometer run with 20 obstacles, and the 400-meter team event.
It is in the 5 kilometer run where participants will mostly join, and the results here will determine the composition of Philippine team that will compete in the inaugural OCR event of the 30th Southeast Asian Games.
Philippine Obstacle Course Federation president Alberto Agra said the event will also serve as a test event for the SEA Games.
For one, Malaysia is one of the three other countries that will join host country Philippines along with Myanmar and Laos.
Agra talked about the races after signing a memorandum of agreement with Allianz Philippines as the official life insurance partner of the Philippine para-athletes and regular national pool members, and the national men’s, women’s and para-OCR team for 2020.
“There will be three major events in this race. First, this will be a test event for the SEA Games, the second is the Asian OCR championships, and the third and ASEAN Para-OCR involving two countries, the Philippines and Singapore,” said Agra.
Allianz Philippines president and CEO Alexander Grentz said their support will be for the next five years.
“Financial insurance of the most significant part of this,” said Grentz.