Joy for Mary without Grace Negrense steals the show in men's division of MAPFRE Insular Run

CEBU, Philippines - It was truly a joy for Tabal in the absence of Mary Grace de los Santos.

With her fancied rival missing in action, Cebuana running star Mary Joy Tabal waltzed her way to a comfortable victory in the 12K women's open, while Jeson Agravante made the most from the absence of the vaunted Kenyan runners to rule the men's division of the MAPFRE Insular Go Run for Road Safety yesterday at the Terraces of Ayala Center Cebu.

In her turn to shine, Tabal lived up to expectations as she crossed the finish line first with the time of 47 minutes and 44.82 seconds.

Tabal was three minutes ahead of her closest pursuer Christy Sevilleno-Tutor (50:46.01), while Jennylyn Nobleza came out third in 51:59.01.

Madelyn Carter placed fourth in 54:13.18 followed by Mary Jane Beboso in 54:47.22. The sixth to eight placers were Joeyry Ann Lee (55:34.80), Marichu Luterte (56:12.63) and Sandra Soliano (57:29.21).

Cebu's triathlon queen Rochelle Tan landed at a decent ninth place with the time of 1:02:38.4, while Emeralde Hermosilla rounded up the top 10 cast in 1:02:40.78.

On the other hand, the Kenyans, who have been dominating with authority all running events here for the past three years, did not join the race obviously because the organizers decided to exclude them from winning any cash prize at stake in the three categories contested.

To the surprise of the local bets, however, the 23-year-old long distance runner from Silay City, Negros Occidental showed up to steal the show away from them.

Agravante sped up right after the starting gun was fired and sustained his fast-paced motion all the way to cross the finish line with the best time of 40 minutes and 6.34 seconds in the 12K men's open action.

Jobert Carolino timed 41:46.67 to snare the second place honors, while Adonis Singson wound up third with the time of 42:30.93. Michael Largo and Riez Enriquez occupied the next two spots in 42:33.46 and 42:40.60, respectively.

Completing the top 10 finishers were Davao City's Elmer Bartolo (43:02.62), Noel Tillor (43:18.51), Moh Sherwin Managil (45:05.05), Prince Joey Lee (45:08.13) and Jodel Batarilan (45:29.81).

In the men's 6K class, Joel Delposo lorded it over with the time of 19 minutes and 57.87 seconds followed by John Daryl Manos (19:58.34) and Robert Daang (20:04.51), while the top three in the women's bracket were Lovely Fe Andrin (24:10.84), Crizel Diongson (24:46.15) and Kisha Mae Delechos (25:55.72).

Juri Ycong caught part of the spotlight after bagging the 3K men's open title in 8:35.41, while Ronnie Andrin (8:37.49) and Michael Estrera (8:43.03) placed second and third.

The top three in the women's 3K were Jessa Suaybaguio (10:19.04) and Cherry and Fe Andrin with the time of 10:15.16 and 11:15.40. (FREEMAN)