THE plan was to stay for three weeks, but for one reason or another, Ernest John ‘EJ” Obiena’s vacation was extended a week with Asian men’s pole vault record holder flying to Italy in four days.
And Obiena made sure his extra week would be a worthwhile extension of his R&R, his first since December 2019 when he flew to Italy to train at the world pole vault center in Formia with legendary coach Vitaly Petrov after he won gold at the 30th Southeast Asian Games.
So on Sunday, Obiena drove to the PhilSports Complex in Pasig City to surprise participants at the Philippine Athletics Track and Field Association Weekly Relays.
To brighten the weekend, Obiena gave out five pairs of Puma athletics shoes to young and aspiring participants who were made to answer trivia questions in track and field to snatch one of the prizes.
One lucky youngster was eight-year-old Mark Luiz Ruto, a third-grader from Majada Elementary School and an up-and-coming prospect from Calamba, Laguna, who’s training out of Team iSKOLAR Atletiks Running Club.
Not only did Ruto win a pair, but he got a rare privilege of getting photographed with his Tokyo Olympian idol, an experience he’d surely cherish come the time he’ll be in Obiena’s big shoes fighting for flag and country.
“I accomplished a lot of little things that I wanted to do like giving away shoes to kids and meeting my fans,” Obiena told BusinessMirror as he tirelessly had his photos taken with enthusiastic athlets—numbering 250 in the particular weekend. “I’m really overwhelmed to meet them personally.”
The R&R was worth it, Obiena said.
“I and Caroline [Joyeaux] spent a few days at El Nido and some islands in Palawan before heading back to Manila to attend to a lot of things,” he said. “But Caroline had to return to Germany to start her training.”
Obiena and Joyeaux, his long jumper girlfriend, arrived in the country last September 15 for a much-needed vacation. He’s been in Europe for almost three years—training and making the rounds of the outdoor and indoor season, including the world championships in Eugene, Orego, where he bagged bronze last July.