Thousands of student-athletes from 20 athletic associations across the Philippines gathered during the 65th Palarong Pambansa held in Laoag City, Ilocos Norte from May 24 to 31, 2025. Each of the participants may have absolutely shone in their own ways, yet there were several who indeed captured the attention of the public—one of them was sprinter Trixia Anne Arellano of the Western Visayas team.
Earning the moniker “Super Tikya,” she amazingly won gold after finishing the 200-meter dash event within 26.40 seconds, shattering the 26.7 seconds record listed by National Capital Region (NCR) bet Maureen Schrijvers in 2008. As if her historic and record-breaking victory wasn’t enough to amaze everyone—not to mention that she snagged it exactly on her birthday on May 28—what astounded us further was finding out that she actually did it barefoot!
She clinched silver during the Iloilo School Sports Council Meet in February 2025 but that didn’t hinder her qualification to the Regionals. That once again discouraged her, but Coach Jetlee reminded her that getting the gold would only be impossible if she chooses to listen to naysayers and give up on her aspirations. Besides, she further encouraged her to give it a shot and to prove pessimists wrong by grabbing the gold medal at the Regionals so she can proceed to the Palarong Pambansa, which would be held in Laoag City, Ilocos Norte.
Motivated by the possible fulfillment of her goal to board a ship going to Luzon Island, Tikya really did her best to take home three gold medals during the Western Visayas Regional Athletic Association (WVRAA), or the Regionals, held in March 2025—and succeeded!
Since they would compete for the Nationals, in which more people from different parts of the country would watch, Coach Leone asked Tikya anew to finally wear shoes to also give her feet maximum grip and propulsion. However, it seemed that wearing the shoes during their training was still not enough for Tikya to get used to them as she stumbled during the first round of the event.
Thus, Tikya tearfully pleaded with Coach Jetlee via phone call to tell them not to force her to wear shoes again and a light argument sparked between the two coaches, wherein Coach Jetlee asked Coach Leone to allow their charge to compete barefoot. Coach Jetlee was able to convince Coach Leone, and Tikya successfully finished the competition as the grand champion. Aside from the three gold medals and cash prize that she bagged from the Nationals, Tikya also received an additional P30,000 cash from an anonymous donor, who got inspired upon seeing her compete barefoot.
Her Palarong Pambasa triumph has made Tikya feel that she didn’t just achieve her dream but of the women in their family, too, who were fast runners and have always been chasing victory just like her.
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