Roughly four months before the Jubilee closing—still smack in the middle of the 50th year—the whole Dragon community welcomed the news of this junior college student’s winning at the Palarong Pambansa – National Capital Region (NCR). While her family and friends were still ecstatic over her win, she went on to compete in the national tournament, finishing a close second at the racewalking event. And who is this young prodigy with such golden steps? She is Alana Julianne Halagueña.
Much has been said about Alana. Sports magazines have published articles on her, capitalizing on her race walking feats at such a young age. And truly, they agree that Alana, despite her youth and small frame, is not merely a survivor but, more important, an image of a strong young woman. At six months old, she was diagnosed with a congenital heart defect. “Nung bata ako, akala ko normal na every year, nako-confine,” she said with a laugh. She was not allowed to carry even a backpack.
With her mom’s guidance and prodding, Alana engaged in activities like swimming and ballet for a short period of time. It was running, however, which contributed tremendously to her winning against her heart ailment. In 2013, she started doing running exercises with her cousin to amp up her endurance, under the guidance of her mother’s uncle, Titus Salazar, an athlete and later on a popular coach. Joining fun runs became common for this aspiring pilot. A little after two years, she signed up for serious training. Since she launched her career in running, she has not stopped reaping honors.
She was part of the Hong Kong MTR Race Walking 5km event, where she placed second after Kwan Siu Yin, China’s contestant who is in her 40s.
In February of this year, she competed and won the 2000-meter racewalk at the Palarong Pambansa NCR. This win scored her a slot in the NCR team, which soon competed at the nationals in Vigan. In her event, she did not disappoint, as she bagged silver, clocking in at 10.46.
This year, she has also won in other competitions, as part of the Run Rio-University of the Philippines team. She was the fastest finisher in both the 2018 Ayala Philippine Athletics Championships held in Isabela, and the Philippine National Games in Cebu. For both leagues, she competed in the 5000-meter racewalk.
No doubt, Alana has indeed scored it big as a young athlete. At 16, her career still shows so much promise and potential. She does not mind that few people know that she is a champion athlete. She would want racewalking to be more known though. In our short talk with her, we asked her to discuss what her sport is and what its fundamental requirements are.
Racewalking
According to Alana, racewalking is a sport that involves walking, but at long distances. Unlike running, this sport observes the strict guideline that there must always be one foot that is in contact with the ground; the toes of the athlete’s back foot cannot leave the ground until the heel of the front foot has landed. “It’s easy to be disqualified,” Alana said.
Runners who have been doing long distances, says Alana, will find it easy to transition to racewalking. She recommends the sport to disciplined individuals who can commit to the strenuous trainings, as she believes racewalking is a tougher—and more painful—sport than sprinting.
In addition, although this event is fairly new here in the Philippines, other countries have long been competing in it. It has been an Olympic event since 1906.
Training
Her training has been consistently worked at every day—with the exception of Sundays. Normal routine would be 20 to 25 laps—or 10 kilometers—of walking. Her coach also encourages her to run 5 to 10 kilometers a week. On days that she cannot train on an oval, she resorts to treadmill-running at home.
Diet
While Alana abstains from eating pork by choice, her food intake remains to be largely made up of chicken, vegetables, and fruits. A self-confessed sweets fan, Alana says she limits her intake of these and other fattening dishes when prepping up for competitions.
Academics
Despite her string of competitions recently, the athletics scholar asserts that she has not missed any school requirement. With the line-up of tournaments in mind, she has made arrangements with her professors beforehand—submitting requirements and performance tasks earlier. She says she was also fortunate that her competitions took place at the end of the term, as there were not many activities for them to do.
When asked if she finds it tiring to go up the Parking and Sports Building for her P.E. classes, she quipped with a smile, “It’s actually part of training!” #
Ma. Christina May “CL” A. Logro works at the University’s Corporate Communications Office. On weekends, she goes home to Cavite to spend time with her beloved dogs. She also does basic film reviews from time to time, to score fans.
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