We associate Sparta in Greece with warriors of superhuman athletic prowess, which makes it fitting for the Spartathlon, known as the toughest ultramarathon in the world.
Image Credit: Kenneth Lucio
But what’s amazing is that we had someone representing us in the races!
Talk about endurance: 43-year-old Rolando Espinosa, a Filipino nurse based in Dublin, Ireland, ran almost 247 kilometers, pounding the pavement through flatlands and hills in 33 hours, according to local reports!
The nurse-slash-marathon-runner even had a Philippine flag raised beside the statue of no less than Leonidas in Sparta!
Espinosa, hailing from Bacolod, finished 89th out of 390 runners. To finish the event successfully, runners must clock in at 36 hours, as well as meet the cutoff time for all 75 checkpoints. Espinosa’s time was 33 hours, 17 minutes and 33 seconds, almost 3 hours ahead of the time limit.
Fellow Ireland-based Filipino nurses cheered him on and assisted him throughout the race.
Congratulations, Rolando Espinosa!
Thoughts on this? Let us know in the comments!
