“It was so masochistic,” feminist Anna Leah Sarabia said of her first impression of triathlon, the grueling sport her eldest daughter Sinag de Leon took up involving kilometers of swimming, running and biking. Then her second daughter Ani pursued it, too, going beyond her limits until she became the first Filipino to compete in the Ironman Triathlon Challege in Kona, Hawaii, this year. Wearing a People R People spaghetti-strapped, knee-length dress that showed off her well-toned arms and becomingly muscular legs, she went up the stage Nov. 5 at the Peninsula Manila Conservatory to receive her glass trophy as one of the 10 Women of the World picked by the three-year-old Marie Claire magazine. Ani’s bronze skin glowed even more under the spotlight as she thanked the magazine for celebrating womanity. Isabela Gov Grace Padaca, another awardee, lauded Marie Claire for recognizing not only “the beauty of women but also the beauty of the things they do.”
There were four generations of Sarabia women beaming proudly that evening: grandma Lourdes, who in her 80s can still drive from Quezon City to her home province of Quezon, mother Anna Leah, a former Woman of the World awardee herself, strong, invincible Ani and her niece Raya, a budding basketball player. Photo courtesy of ANI DE LEON’S FACEBOOK
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