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By Rhick Lars VladimerAlbay
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ILOILO City – Bacolod City-born Rolando Espina Jr. made history on Saturday, conquering the 2016 Spartathlon in Greece to become the first Filipino to finish what has been dubbed “the most difficult ultra-distance foot race in the world” and earn the privilege of having the Philippine flag permanently flown beside the statue of warrior-king Leonidas in Sparta.
The 43-year-old Espina finished 89th overall, clocking in at 33 hours, 17 minutes and 43 seconds to beat the 36-hour cut off of the 246-kilometer race.
The Spartathlon welcomes hundreds of racers and triathletes every year with only less than half of the total registrants surviving the race that encompasses 75 check points between Athens and Sparta.
Espina is a professional nurse who has been living and working in Dublin, Ireland since 2001. Espina shares that he’s joined a total of 97 marathons and ultra-marathon runs so far, as well as 5 Ironman events in the recent years.
The Spartathlon commemorates the journey of the legendary messenger Pheidippides who is said to have rannearly 250 kilometers in a day and a half to deliver a message from Marathon in Greece to Athens in the time of war.
This annual ultra-marathon kicked off at the Acroplis in Athens and ended at the foot of King Leonidas’ statue in Sparta./PN
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