Four athletes stood out in the Manila leg of Under Armour’s Test of Will challenge last April 16-17 at Bonifacio High Street, Taguig. They are to compete with other South East Asian countries such as Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore for the finals of the first ever Under Armour South East Asia: Test of Will 2016 on May 28 at Gardens by the Bay, Singapore.

We get up-close with the top 4 and find out who they are, how they train and what made them join the Test of Will Philippines national heats.

 

Noelle Wenceslao

 

The first placer in the ranking, she has the total score of 243 reps, in 4 minutes! She is also a member of the Philippine Everest Expedition and one of the FIRST 3 Filipinas on Earth’s highest mountain, the Mount Everest.

Noelle has 16 years of experience in the field of Dragon Boat Paddling, 9 years of experience Technical Alpine Mountaineering and other outdoor sports like open water diving, trekking, adventure racing, etc.

She was not into sports before, until she joined the dragon boat team in UP when she was in college. “I started dragon boat paddling with the University of the Philippines Dragon Boat Team in 1998. Today, 18 years later, my love for dragon boat has not waned even a little. I am an active member of the Philippine Coast Guard Dragon Boat Team. We train under the Del Pan Bridge, Port Area, Tondo. When paddling is light, and I’m not too tired, I do a little Crossfit in MNL and China Town Fitness. I also ride my mountain bike. When there is time, I also enjoy a little trekking. I am a member of the UP Mountaineers.”

 

 

Zoe Pond-McPherson

Zoe has been competing in Crossfit since October 2015. She is the “fittest woman” in the Philippines in Crossfit.

Besides competing for the finals of the Test of Will, Zoe will also compete in the Crossfit Games Pacific Regional alongside the top 30 fittest women in Australia and the top 10 fittest in Asia.

Zoe is also a gymnastics and mobility coach in Primal Ape Crossfit here in the Philippines. She was a cum laude mathematics degree holder and investment analyst operations, that quit her job and embarked on a career change.

“I usually train 5 days a week with one full recovery day and one active recovery day. Now that I’m training for the Crossfit regionals I try to do double sessions 3-4 times a week. Previously I only did 1-2 per week. I also do my best to get in 20 minutes of mobility on top of my general warm up and cool down and 45 minutes on my full rest day.”

 

 

Derrick Mercado

 

Derrick Mercado is an architecture graduate who is also a certified Crossfit Practitioner in different gyms like Crossfit Insurrecto and Kettlebell Gym.

He also engages into individual and team sports as he joined the Manila Throwdown East Sectionals Top 22 Qualifiers, Scaled Division, Manila Throwdown Team Edition, Circuit Makati Top 24 Qualifiers, Scaled Division and Amateur Bantamweight Bodybuilding Competition, Under 60kg Division.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Merwin Torres

Merwin is a registered medical technologist, a fitness instructor, and a CrossFit Level 1 trainer. He usually tops on fitness challenges in and out of the country. His achievements include Champion FITTEST Challenge 2016 Philippines CF affiliate alliance, Rank 4 and only Filipino finalist in Asia Championships 2015 Crossfit Affiliates Asia Event in Bangkok, Thailand, Overall Champion Titan Games First Phil. Strongman Competition 2014 by Wod Nation, 1st Runner-up Manila Throwdown 2013 Individual First Ever Crossfit Throwdown in the Philippines.

 

“I participate in any competition I can join in. Happy that UA is one of them. I train hard as a coach … even harder as an athlete so Test of Will is a good challenge for me to test my GPP (general physical preparedness) before I join Asian Championships.”

 

Pre-event social media activation by coaches Jim and Toni Saret

The power couple coaches Jim and Toni Saret will also be leading a social media activation as Under Armour PH will guest them to represent the Philippines on May 28, 2016 at the finals of the Test of Will 2016.

Their social media posting can be seen on Facebook and on Instagram. This will be a video guide to our top 4 athletes for the finals. ADVT.