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Mary Grace de los Santos Bags 2nd Place at Standard Chartered Kuala Lumpur Half Marathon

I’m back from a fantastic Kuala Lumpur trip sponsored by Newton and CW-X where I joined the Standard Chartered Kuala Lumpur Half Marathon yesterday.

While I try to catch up on sleep (our flight was in the wee hours of the morning), allow me to share the good news: Mary Grace de los Santos, a Cebu-based 25 year old runner from Zamboanga, bagged 2nd Place female category at the KL Marathon.  Mabuhay ang Pilipinas!

Mary Grace with medal2
– Mary Grace de los Santos wins 2nd Place Women’s Category KL Half Marathon -

It was a proud day for our small Filipino contingent. It was actually just Mary Grace, Renze of Newton, and myself in this video:

During dinner after the race, I asked Mary Grace if she felt any pressure or stress to win the race.  In all humility, she shook her head saying that she felt confident about winning.  She did admit that she was shivering as she stood at the starting line, but it was due to the cold from the slight drizzle. Hah!

Grace at starting line
– Grace at the starting line -

Mary Grace’s PR for a half marathon is 1:24 recorded at The Great Lapu Lapu Run last March 2010.  The winning time of the 1st placer at KL half marathon, a Kenyan, was 1:24.  The 3rd placer came in 2 mins. after Mary Grace.

Both 1st and 3rd placers had pacers by their side, but Mary Grace was all by her lonesome.  She said that she slowed down considerably when 42km runners and half marathoners filled water stations.  (I was actually surprised to hear that she even stopped to drink considering her time!)

Grace awarding

- Grace at the awarding -

Congratulations once again to Mary Grace who did the Philippines proud yesterday!  Hats off to Toby Claudio, Renze Banawa and the entire Newton and CW-X team who provided support and exposure to Mary Grace.  I was a witness to how Renze of Newton took good care of Mary Grace during the entire trip.  He contacted the race organizer to ensure that Mary Grace was included in the front line with the elite and woke up at 3 a.m. to accompany her for the elite warm up sessions before race day.  He did all that and still managed to finish his 1st half marathon with a time of 1:51.

More stories about KL Marathon within the week!  For now, I’ll leave you with this video of the awarding of the 1st Placer at the 42k Male division:

Posted on 06.28.10 to 02 Race Reports. Tags: , . Subscribe to follow comments on this post. 14 comments. Add your thoughts or trackback from your own site.

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14 Responses to “Mary Grace de los Santos Bags 2nd Place at Standard Chartered Kuala Lumpur Half Marathon”

  1. Galeng!!! Kudos to Mary Grace!!!

    Paolo Manuel said on Jun 28 10 at 9:10 PM Reply

  2. Congratulations, Mary Grace! It’s so nice to see Filipinos placing in international races! More power to you… at ang galing ng 1:26 mo! That’s a 4:04 pace! Kahit na bumuo pa kami ni Jaymie ng 10-man relay team di namin kaya talunin yon!! :) Congrats to Toby and Renze, too, for sponsoring Mary Grace and for helping her realize her potential. This goes a long way. (Awesome 1:51, Renze!) And to all the Filipinos who ran KL — the Pace Partners, Jaymie, Hubby, etc. — congrats, guys! Way to represent!

    Lit said on Jun 28 10 at 9:44 PM Reply

  3. This is great news. Filipino athletes can compete if they can get the support and financial sponsorship to run races overseas. Good job Grace.

    Kenneth T. said on Jun 28 10 at 10:21 PM Reply

  4. ang galing! congrats! hope to hear more stories like this, filipino elite runners on the spotlight. :)

    mgrace said on Jun 28 10 at 10:39 PM Reply

  5. Congratulations! I was very happy and proud when they announced the 2nd placer was from the Philippines!! Made me actually forget the heat from waiting for my baggage after the race. Mabuhay!

    estelito said on Jun 29 10 at 12:10 AM Reply

  6. Congratulations!

    ling said on Jun 29 10 at 6:38 AM Reply

  7. congrats Mary Grace for making us Filipinos proud again!

    odie said on Jun 29 10 at 7:26 AM Reply

  8. Congratulations to Mary Grace. Indeed, Mabuhay tayong mga Pilipino. Thanks Bull Runner for keeping us posted of these good news.

    Macky said on Jun 29 10 at 8:09 AM Reply

  9. Congratulations Mary Grace! Nakaka proud, sobra! :) Ang bilis, grabe! :) Congrats Jaymie, Sir Miguel and the other Filipino runners in the KL Marathon :)

    Reylynne said on Jun 29 10 at 11:59 AM Reply

  10. Congrats Mary Grace.Me & my friends was the volunteers who helped her & Renze with Bib collection & the contact person so she could be included in the elite runners.We even provided them with taxi contact number so they could reach Mandarin Oriental at 3.00 a.m.

    Fazrul Khan said on Jun 29 10 at 11:20 PM Reply

  11. congratulations mary grace! good job newton and cwx.

    journeyingjames said on Jun 30 10 at 4:29 AM Reply

  12. Congratulations to Mary Grace for her achievement & to the sponsors who made this possible! Hope many more athletes can be given this kind of support to represent our country. This just proves that Filipinos can compete with the best in the world. I’m proud to be a Filipino!!!

    jun b said on Jun 30 10 at 9:45 AM Reply

  13. Congratulations! I ran at the same category too! For sure I’ll be back next year!

    Ben-Ariel said on Jun 30 10 at 10:14 AM Reply

  14. Congrats! to Mary Grace. Good Job!

    Melissa Marasigan said on Mar 12 12 at 9:15 PM Reply

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