Mary Joy Tabal

Events: Marathon

 

Mary Joy Tabal from the island of Cebu. From a poor mountain family. Tabal used her road

running earnings to pay her siblings through school.

 

At college she was only an average 59 second 400m runner. Her life would change forever

when she was approached by then Triathlete Philip Duenas to move upto the Marathon. Such

a big jump came as a shock early on for Joy who collapsed in her first 10,000m race.

 

Two years later she burst onto the scene as the Milo Marathon Champion in 2013 dethroning

then back to back Milo Champion Mary Grace Delos Santos. Tabal went onto win the 2014,

2015, 2016 editions. Making it four in a row. At the 2015 SEA Games Tabal took the silver,

in very difficult wet conditions. In 2016 she broke the very famous national Philippine

Record of two Time SEA Games Champion the legendary Christabel Martes. In process

she qualified for the Rio Olympic Games and became the First Women from the Philippines

to participate at the Olympic Games.

 

She was largely helped by Motorace, was able to train in Japan and then Italy with the help of

her sponsors. Tabal and Duenas also give back to the sport by providing a grass root

program which assists kids similar to joy from poor families around Cebu.

 

 

Mary Joy Tabal

 

• Born: 13 Jul 1989
• Cebu City
• College: South-Western University, Cebu (Graduated)
• Coach: Philip Duenas (mainly), some help from Foreign Coaches
• Location: Cebu City / Currently Tuscany, Italy
• Independent National Athlete helped by PSC (on and off)

 

Performance Profile:

• Half Marathon: 1:16.28 (National Record)
• Marathon: 2:43.31 (National Record)

 

Achievements to Date:

• PNG Champion 2013 5000m
• 4x Milo Marathon Champion 2013,2014,2015,2016
• SEA Games Silver 2015 Marathon
• Olympian 2016 Marathon
• National Record Holder Half and Full Marathon
• SEA Games Gold 2017 Marathon

 

 

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