After the rigorous training, Filipino multi-sport athlete and cancer survivor Louie Sangalang is now ready to face the punishing climate of the Arctic.
The North Pole Marathon will be held on April 9, 2018. There is a total of 11 FWD-sponsored runners including our very own Filipino pride Louie Sangalang. The runners are dubbed “FWD Team Asia” with athletes coming from Hong Kong, Indonesia, Singapore, Vietnam, Japan, and the Philippines.
The runners will be facing the most difficult marathon yet. They will be running on ice sheet measuring 6 to 12 feet thick and above 12,000 feet of Arctic Ocean. The temperature can go down negative 30 degrees on good times and 40 degrees on bad time. Basically, there is never a good time.
The path is 42-kilometer long with a high chance of freezing to death or get eaten by a polar bear. We don’t know which is worse, but Louie is up to the challenge.
Louie Sangalang Training
Louie is used to running in marathons, but not the type where the environment, living and non-living things alike, poses a threat in every step of the way. During the press conference, he mentioned that his training was 10 percent physical, 10 percent experience, and 80 percent mental.
Of course, he couldn’t do it alone. So, FWD assembled the “FWD Training Squad” to help him in his journey composed of Ani De Leon-Brown, Ige Lopez, Romi Garduce, Sam YG, Maricel Laxa-Pangilinan and her son Benjamin Pangilinan.
Louie’s training includes getting into the freezer and learning to change clothes and unzip his zipper when peeing while wearing thick gloves. He said that peeing was the hardest part of the training. Maricel Laxa-Pangilinan also told Louie that he needs to look at the marathon in a different perspective in order to survive. “It’s not a 42-kilometer marathon. It’s just four loops of 10 kilometers,” she said.
They also keep reminding Louie that if he can survive cancer, there’s nothing else he can’t do.
FWD is not your typical insurance
FWD is known to be a unique insurance company. They promote risk rather than avoid it, and ultimately encouraging everyone to live their life to the fullest by eliminating fear.
This is the second year FWD sponsored the North Pole Marathon. Roche Vanderberghe, FWD Life Philippines Head of Marketing, said, “FWD saw the North Pole Marathon as a unique and important platform to communicate the idea that everyone should live life to the fullest, stay true to their passion, and not give up on their goals, because FWD will always have their back.”
Louie is scheduled to fly to the North Pole this March. Show your full Filipino support to Louie Sangalang by visiting the North Pole Marathon on FWD website.
#BlazeATrailInTheArctic
#BeBoldInTheCold
#GetReadyToLive
-Irone Kim of ironeXplores
