Mendel Lopez and Leizl Getaruelas lived up to expectations as Cebu’s dominant runners by finishing in Top 5 of their respective divisions in the Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon yesterday.
Mendel came out fifh in the senior 10K run while Getaruelas landed fourth in the women’s 21-K run. In all, the race attracted 50,000 runners.
Mendel and Getaruelas, however, missed earning cash prizes as only the top three finishers in each category were entitled the pot money.
The other Cebuano runners who joined the race all crossed the finish line except Sportswriters Association of Cebu (SAC) president John Pages who had to quit with only 6 kilometers to the finish line due to pulled muscle.
Those who finished the full marathon were Dr. Jong Larrazabal, Vic Verallo, Albert Santos, Nicole Chua along with Jesse Taborada, Meyrick Jacalan, Ted Tecson and Serge Amora. Among the runners, Larrazabal submitted the best time of 4 hours and 19 minutes.
Dr. Peter Mancao, Pons de Prado and Tony del Prado for their part, all crossed the line in the 21k race.
Pearl Jacalan, wife or Meyrick Jacalan, who ran in the women’s 10k, also finished the race.
Not finishing the race due to injury must be devastating for Pages who put in six months of training. The good thing is that Jasmin, the ever-loving wife of John is there to give him the support he needs.
For sure, the likeable sportsman had learned some valuable lessons from his experience and will be back next year.