Immuvit "No Excuses" leg

COMPLIMENTS: I'd like to thank the organizers of the Immuvit "No Excuses" leg held last Saturday inside the Quezon City Memorial Circle. The weather may have not cooperated as much as we liked but I think the "endurance" race was great. Thumbs up!!!

MY EXPERIENCE: It was my first time to cover an endurance race and I think races like this would provide participants in gauging their fitness.

Like coach Jim Saret said, an endurance race will test not only your running skills but your capability to survive the exercises or challenges.

Participants doing the burpees.

And if there was one guy who demonstrated such fitness, I think it would be Joy Beryl Laroa, a nurse employed by the Armed Forces of the Philippines' medical services, who won the men's

The 25-year-old Laroa, who hails from Davao City,  succeeded in defeating much taller competitors including Chris Everingham, one of the mainstays of the Rugby team Philippine Volcanoes in the advance category.

"Nauna siya sa akin pero nalampasan ko siya sa burpee jump box. Huling exercise na yon pero mas matulin ako sa kanya," said Laroa. "Sa AFP kasi 55 push-ups ang ginagawa namin sa training. Eh dito 20 lang ang pinagawa.'

Burpee is a combination of push-ups and jumping, which according to the participants was one of the toughest.

Also included among the challenges, conceptualized by Saret, were Rip 60 Challenge, tire flips, tire pulls, walking lungees and the wiper pushups.

Participants found-out that to finish the challenges, they have to use not only their lower body strengths but their upper body fitness as well.

The 5-foot-6 Laroa's fitness came to fore when he likewise defeated the 6-foot Everingham in the eliminations.

"Wasakan talaga rito. Pero kung fit ka at hindi ampaw kakayanin mo ang meta-fit race na ito," Saret explained.

In the women's division, Irene Rafil, a Certified Platinum Personal Trainer at Fitness First, showed her fitness by completing the course in 5:02 minutes.  Veteran runner Jennifer Cabbab (5:18 minutes) and ultra-marathon runner Jenny Bave Dela Cruz (5:49) posted podium finishes as they earned second and third spots overall, respectively.

Surprisingly, the women posted better times compared to the men's.

"The women are better prepared for this than the men's if we will consider their performance based on their clockings," Saret explained about the telling discrepancies in the times between the men and women participants.

Saret is also challenging everyone to participate in the third leg of the Immuvit Series which will be held in Nuvali in Santa Rosa, Laguna.

"Mas mahaba ang takbo, pero mas maraming obstacles or challenges sa Nuvali," said Saret.