Uy becomes first Filipina Spartathlon finisher

SPARTA, Greece — With just 28 minutes and 57 seconds to spare, Filipina ultrarunner Jennifer Aimee Uy reached the statue of King Leonidas in Sparta to complete one of the world’s most grueling footraces.

Uy crossed the finish line of the Spartathlon in 35 hours, 31 minutes and 3 seconds, barely inside the event’s unforgiving 36-hour cutoff.

Covering roughly 246 kilometers across Greece, the Spartathlon retraces the legendary journey of Pheidippides, the Athenian messenger sent to Sparta in 490 B.C. to seek help before the Battle of Marathon.

The race began at the foot of the Acropolis in Athens and pushed athletes across roads, rough tracks, muddy trails and steep hillsides before ending at the statue of King Leonidas in Sparta.

Official Spartathlon records listed 323 starters and 276 official finishers in the 2026 race.

Uy finished 252nd in the official standings, marking a historic milestone as the first Filipina reported to have completed the Spartathlon.

For Uy, the physical distance was only half the struggle.

The ultimate test was surviving the strict time limits imposed throughout the course.

The route features 75 checkpoints, each with its own cutoff time, meaning a missed deadline could end a runner’s race.

“There are 75 checkpoints, pag hindi ka nakapasok sa time, tanggal ka na. Yun ang mahirap, every time naghahabol ka na wag ma-cutoff,” Uy recalled, emphasizing how she spent much of the race running against the clock.

The trial reached a critical point deep into the night at Mount Parthenion, near the 160-km mark.

Ascending the mountain meant pushing through cold temperatures and driving rain in darkness, with the official race description placing the climb at about 1,200 meters.

Uy described it as the hardest portion of the course.

The treacherous descent proved even more dangerous, wiping out the time cushion she had built earlier in the race.

“Madulas at maputik yung bundok pababa. Naubos buffer time ko na isang oras,” she said, noting that her hard-won one-hour advantage over the cutoff disappeared.

Navigating the muddy mountain paths required painstaking caution because one misstep on the steep terrain could have resulted in a serious fall.

“Ang bagal ko pababa ng bundok, dahan-dahan lang, kasi sobrang putik at ang bigat na ng sapatos ko. Pwede kang mahulog sa bangin, actually,” Uy explained.

With virtually no margin for error, Uy tackled the final legs of the race while continuing to chase the checkpoint cutoffs.

She eventually reached Sparta in 35:31:03, completing a race the organizers describe as one of the world’s most demanding ultradistance events.

The Spartathlon is the latest in a series of endurance feats for Uy, who has completed several Ironman races, competed in the Ironman World Championship in Kona in 2023 and conquered numerous ultramarathons, including one in Hawaii last December.

Her longest race before the Spartathlon was the 264-km Baguio-to-Luneta ultramarathon in 2019.

Yet even after conquering Sparta, Uy is not treating the achievement as an endpoint.

“I believe there’s always a ‘next’ race because I’m someone who loves challenging myself and pushing my limits,” said Uy, a Philippine Sportswriters Association awardee last year.