Villafria looks forward to Mt. Fuji race

Ronald Villafria is no stranger to the local running and triathlon scene.

In fact, he has become a household name among members of the Northern Mariana Islands Triathlon Federation that a lot of them turned out to help him when he organized a fundraising event on May 10.

The Fun Run was a fundraising event for Villafria’s impending trip to Japan to join the Mt. Fuji Marathon or Fuji Tozan Race, which is composed of two legs.

The first leg of the Mt. Fuji Marathon is a 15-kilometer race to the fifth station of the mountain and a 21-km race all the way to the top. The final six kilometers of the race is also a trail run.

Villafria, who is celebrating his birthday today, considers the Mt. Fuji Marathon as the most challenging race that he will join. He keeps in shape by training almost daily running atop Mt. Tapochao, which is 1,554 feet or 474 meters.

Climate will be a huge factor for Villafria and his running mate Steve Pixley since Mt. Fuji is 12,388 feet (3,776m) or almost eight times the height of Mt. Tapochao.

Villafria said he and Steve Pixley, who will join him for the Mt. Fuji Marathon, plan to arrive one week ahead of the July 25 race in order to acclimatize themselves and study the course.

He said he is not expecting anything in his first attempt to conquer the Mt. Fuji Marathon. “I don’t know what to expect in the race. I don’t know the course. I just want to familiarize myself so I would know what to do the next time I join the race.”

Villafria said he would not give it his all and will try to pace himself in the race. “I only want to finish the race and have some proof that I ran and was a finisher.”

The Mt. Fuji Marathon is a 21-kilometer race where the first few hours are all punishing uphill and upward runs that would test the runners’ endurance and stamina in the thinning air.

Villafria said he even met a number of Japanese tourists that joined this year’s XTERRA that also completed the Mt. Fuji Marathon. “They told me that among the thousands of those who joined the race almost half of it or more than that could not finish the race.”

Villafria helped an All-Filipino team composed of biker Rene Calage and swimmer Rezne Wong to sweep their own Pacific Islands Club Double this year as their relay team topped the 6th XTERRA Saipan Championship and 19th Tagaman Triathlon.

He also placed third in this year’s 10K Fun Run in the 3rd Annual Saipan Marathon and 26th Half Marathon last January.

In December last year, Villafria single-handedly took on the almost 20-kilometer Christmas Island Relay run from Pacific Islands Club in San Antonio to the Last Command Post in Marpi, finishing second to Team We Are Legend.

We Are Legend—composed of athletic stars Jacque Wonenberg, Matt Mancao, Nate Mateo, Reylynn Sapong, and Ken Yoshimoto—clocked in one hour, 33 minutes, and four seconds, while Villafria came in at 1:48.50.