Once a surprise find, Hallasgo now seeking more glory for country
She was perhaps one of the most significant discoveries for Team Philippines in the 2019 Southeast Asian Games.
Until she sprang a surprise by winning the marathon gold to spearhead a 1-2 finish by the country there, Christine Hallasgo was just a name that appeared in the results of local races.
“I thought before it was impossible to reach that level,” Hallasgo told the Inquirer on Wednesday. “It’s like I was looking down on myself because I came from nothing, I am poor.”
And then, almost seemingly from nowhere, she stormed into the mainstream sporting consciousness. A prized find. Fitting, because her name, in Spanish, means “find” or “discovery.”
Now, Hallasgo is a household name among hardcore sports fans. After winning gold here, she added a silver in the Vietnam edition, which was delayed to 2022 because of the pandemic.
“My career was stopped because there were no events, no international races,” Hallasgo said of the time that COVID-19 paused every activity around the world, including travel. The long-distance runner, in fact, was caught in Manila during the severe lockdown and could not go home to her family in Bukidnon, Misamis Oriental.
She has since returned to full-time training with the national team. Recently, she participated in the 20th Asian Marathon Championship in Jiaxing, China, where she placed a respectable ninth with a time of 2:49:27.
Her finish, though wasn’t what she was proud of.
“I am happy with how I performed considering I was not that well prepared,” she said. “But the results were good. I was able to get my personal best.”
And she plans to build on that milestone by shaving more time off it for this year’s SEA Games in December.
“That is my target now, to improve my time [before the SEA Games],” she said, adding she is working closely with coaches Eduardo Buenavista and Christabel Martes—both decorated former national athletes—to achieve that goal. “I believe it’s possible.”
Reaching that means making a lot of sacrifices, the most difficult of which is being away from eight-year-old daughter Chrisxiah Mae.
“Sometimes, when it comes to birthdays and family gatherings, I am not there,” she said. “Those are the things that I really sacrificed just so I could train for my events.”
“When I became a mother, a wife and an athlete, I had to learn to budget my time.”
That’s why any help that could ease her mental or emotional worries in any form is a big help.
Recently, Hallasgo was one of five runners signed by Puma for its Go Wild campaign.
“We needed athletes very similar to Christine, who won gold in SEA Games last 2019,” Puma Philippines assistant marketing manager Madel Juliano said.
“We wanted to support our athletes by providing them with our products,” Megan Dayleg, the brand’s sport’s marketing executive added.
Jan De Los Reyes, marketing head, plans to expand Puma’s support. “We believe in the grassroots and we believe in our athletes.”
And Hallasgo is thankful.
“I think what’s more important is you no longer have to worry about those little things like where you will get shoes or the other things you need,” she said. “You can focus on training.”
That’s all Hallasgo is focusing on now. Training. Preparing. Her eyes are trained at the end of the calendar, where she will again challenge the region’s best.
“I will always do my best to prepare so I can bring honor to the country,” she said.
