Three Cebuanos qualify

CEBU, Philippines - "Sky of blue and sea of green." To borrow a line from one of the Beatles' hit songs Yellow Submarine, such kind of breath-taking scenery enveloped the town yesterday.

Under the backdrop of a crystal blue skyline, thousands of runners transformed the City's main thoroughfares into a sea of green, signifying another highly-successful Cebu leg of the 33rd National Milo Marathon that started at the Cebu Normal University grounds and ended at the Cebu City Sports Center.

In the overall headcount released by the organizers led by Milo Sports executive director Pat Goc-ong and Ricky Ballesteros, a total of 19, 943 fitness buffs from 56 schools and nine clubs joined the Cebu swing of what is ballyhoed as the biggest, grandest, longest and most prestigious running event in the annals of Philippine sports.

And when the avalanche of footracers that included Senator Pia Cayetano and a seven-year-old boy settled at the finish line, only three made the cut-off time in their respective divisions led by men's champion Mendel Lopez and back-to-back women's titlist Madelyn Carter. The other is Eugene Delposo.

Unlike in the previous editions wherein the top three finishers in the 21-kilometer category automatically advance into the National Finals, the organizers, in an effort to bring the competition to a higher level, have set a cut-off time of one hour and 15 minutes for the male runners and one hour and 35 minutes for the female entries.

Pundits perceived the modification in contest rules as a tough challenge, but the 24-year-old Lopez proved it was highly achievable. Ditto with Delposo and Carter.

Lopez, who hails from Sta. Catalina, Negros Oriental, outsmarted his toughest rivals with finesse and sheer guts on the way to touch down the finish line with the best time of one hour, 11 minutes and 11 seconds.

“The Milo event gave me the opportunity to travel for free and challenge me to strive harder. It has become a driving force to be the best that I can be,”said Lopez, a Geodetic Engineering graduate from the University of Southern Philippines Foundation (USPF).

And Mr. Ripley may believe it or not, joining the Cebu leg of the Milo Marathon for the second time a few years back gave him the chance to ride an airplane for the first time in his life. Lopez is now based in Manila where he collected several honors and a slot to the national training pool.

Delposo copped the second place honors also inside the qualifying time with a 1:15:07 clocking, while Carter defended her women's throne with the time of one hour, 21 minutes and 18 seconds.

Carter was actually behind Cebu's road running queen Liezsl Lumindas-Gitaruelas in the early goings of the race, but she sped up, overtook her toughest rival and then never saw her again.

“I don’t know what happened next to Leizsl.I didn’t mind anymore as to who was behind me. Time is my opponent actually,” said Carter.

For making the cut, Lopez, Delposo and Carter will enjoy an all-expense paid trip to compete in a full marathon during the National Finals set on October 11 in Manila.

Back in the Cebu eliminations, Adonis Singson wound up third with a time of 1:16:02, while Jennifer de la Pura came in a distance second in the distaff side in 1:39:30 followed by Lhoriz Echavez in 1:47:11. Gitaruelas did not finish due to a hamstring injury.

Senator Pia Cayetano, dazzling as ever even in sports suit, settled at a decent sixth place in two hours and 34 seconds, while singer-actress Donna Cruz Larrazabal, who is slowly making a noise in the local race circuit, made it to the top 10.

In the 10K classification, Eugene's brother Joel Delposo emerged as the top winner in 35 minutes and 37 seconds, while Sheena Gacayan ruled in the women's bracket in 35:32.

John Ardiente dominated the boys 5K action in 18 minutes and 37 seconds, while Vlessica Jagna bagged the girls tiara in 22:19. Mac Nillas was the best in the 3K class with the time of 10 minutes and 43 seconds, while Crista Beronia topped the girls division in 11:51.

“This is the best staging we had by far. As far as the outcome of the race is concerned, we can say that the local runners are still far behind because only three qualified.This is the first time that Milo is doing this, so the local runners are still testing the waters. But this is a challenge for them to do better next year and for the qualifiers to really do their best,” said Ballesteros.

Goc-ong, on the other hand, has nothing but words of praise and deep sense of pride for what had been another epic entry in Milo sports book.

“The race was very successful. We surpassed our target number of entries here and surprisingly even in Manila. We also got our target right of having a qualifying time for the National finals so only the best go will out there,” Goc-ong said. - THE FREEMAN