August 12, 2007 | 12:00am
The Cebu leg of the National Milo Marathon, the much-awaited running event of the year here in the Queen City of the South, unfolds this morning starting at the Cebu Normal University grounds and ending at the Cebu City Sports Center.
Around 20,500 runners are expected to turn the Osmeña Boulevard into a sea of green just like in the past stagings of the biggest and grandest running event in the country.
Senator Pia Cayetano and Nestle Philippine president Nandu Nankishore will fire the starting gun. They will be joined by Cebu City Vice Mayor Michael L. Rama and Milo Sports director Pat Goc-ong in gracing the affair.
As of this writing last night, 20,150 have to far registered, but Cebu leg organizer Ricky Ballesteros is confident they can break their own record of 20,486 set last year.
The 5K division has the most number of entries with 18,300, while the 3K drew 350 runners.
The 21K run, on the other hand, will have a total of 350 entries from the men and women’s divisions.
Mendel Lopez of the University of Southern Philippines Foundation is the top runner to beat especially with defending Cebu leg champion Eugene Delposo already qualified for the National Finals set later this year in Manila after landing at second place in the Bohol qualifying last week.
Bohol’s Joseph Penales, who missed to shine in his own turf, is expected to give Lopez a tough challenge.
In the distaff side, Leizl Lumindas-Getaruelas is the strongest contender for the crown. She missed the Cebu leg last year, but qualified to the national finals after ruling the Davao leg.
An inter-school running ompetition and a cheerdance contest are among the highlights of the race.
