Expect top-notch competitions when the Philippine National Athletics Championships and the Southeast Asian Youth Athletics Championships fire off next month in the City of Ilagan, Isabela.
Thousands of athletes from more than 15 countries are slated to participate with the staging of the SEA Youth event on March 2 to 3.
Three days after the youth event, the Ayala-sponsored National Open will take place also at the well-maintained sports complex.
This will be the third straight year that the city will be hosting such event and Philippine Amateur Track and Field Association (PATAFA) chief Philip Ella Juico eyes this as a prelude to the SEA Games that the country is hosting in November.”
This is the biggest number of competing nations here and we can also assure of a stronger competition because other countries are also fielding their best bets here,” said Juico.
The event, Juico added, also serves as one of the qualifiers for members of the training pool.
Juico also said Fil-American members of the national team are also participating that include Eric Cray, Trenten Beram, Alyanna Nicolas, Nathalie Uy and William Morrison, to name a few.
PH team standouts like EJ Obiena and Joy Tabal are also seeing action.
“The fact that Thailand is sending 50 athletes makes this tournament tough,” Juico said.
Thirty-eight events will be contested in the SEA Youth while 44 events including two mixed gender relays will be competed in the Nationals.
Among the countries joining aside from Thailand are Malaysia, Vietnam, Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Singapore, Myanmar, Timor Leste, Mongolia, United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Hong Kong, India and Chinese Taipei.