Jose Ramon Lorenzo,39, teamed up with 38-year-old brother-in-law Ranilo Dacoy, a one-time taxi driver and tourist guide, to top Saturday’s elimination.
The duo, who ran under the team Blitz, clocked four hours and 23 minutes , beating by seven minutes the Wanderers of Astrio Padilla and Alendry Lizarondo.
Scientia of graduate student Joannes Sy and physics instructor Clarina de la Cruz, both only 22, came in third, followed by Jogsters of Leovino Nabor II and Joseph Santos, who were three minutes ahead of Just The Way We Are of Robert Rubina, a 35-year-old engineer, and Luzedel de Leon, a 32-year-old underwriter and insurance agent.
Also fifth in 4:47 were the Express pair of Francis Ochoa, 26, of Today, and June Navarro, also 26 and another sportswriter for the Inquirer.
Rounding out the last 10 qualifiers for the May 25 finals where P100,000 is at stake for the champion, P25,000 for the second placer and P15,000 for the third placer were team Bad Back and Large Arms of Anthony Rola, 27, PR professional, and Pamela Coquilla, 26, account executive; Black Renegade of Christian Lipnica, 20, and Archie Balilo, 18, both students; Insigida of Jose Nicolas, 25, student, and David Adis, 23, systems engineer; and The Drunks of Redzel Orquiza, 22, computer programmer, and Kenneth Diaz, 22, telecom engineer.
They will join 20 others who topped the April 25 and May 4 elimination legs of the first of its kind urban adventure race in the country.
The finals are scheduled May 25 with the Rockwell Center in Makati City as the kickoff and finish point.