Iloilo student-athlete builds wooden treadmill
ILOILO CITY—For 22-year-old John Leadro Malojo, the road to the Philippine National Team is being paved—not with asphalt, but with mahogany and marine plywood.
A first-year Physical Education student at Central Philippine University (CPU), Malojo is a marathoner who refuses to let rainy weather disrupt his training.
When faced with the challenge of staying fit indoors, this resident of Miguel town, Iloilo province searched online for solutions and came across a manual treadmill design from India. He decided to build his own version, improving on what he found.
While the original models were functional, Malojo said they were often too noisy for home use. With no formal engineering background but a natural talent for assembly, he modified the design to produce a smoother and quieter machine.
The result is a line of eco-friendly, zero-electricity fitness equipment, including an P8,000 manual walking pad with over 60 stainless steel bearings for walking and light jogging, a P12,000 manual treadmill for high-intensity running and sprints, and another P12,000 model designed for dogs to stay active.
“It’s all about the user’s pace. If you want to sprint, the machine responds. If you slow down, it slows down too,” Malojo told the Inquirer in an interview on Thursday.
Orders
What began as a personal training tool gained unexpected attention after he posted it online. The video went viral, reaching millions of views and generating orders from across the country.
Since February, Malojo and his older brother have been working together to meet demand. They have already sold 15 units, with their first buyer from Manila, and currently have 10 more units in production.
Each treadmill is treated against termites and finished with protective varnish. Malojo likens the product to furniture, saying that when kept indoors, it can last for years.
For him, the venture is more than a business. As the only college student among five siblings, the income helps support his family and ease the financial burden on his parents, a laborer and a housewife.
Every unit sold brings him closer to his goal of joining the Philippine national team.
As a scholar-athlete at CPU, Malojo dreams of becoming a world-class marathoner, using his earnings to fund training, nutrition, equipment and education.
