Milo marathon elims shift to Roxas City

Fresh from a highly-successful kick-off leg in Davao City which attracted a record number of runners, the 26th National Milo Marathon hits Western Visayas next weekend, July 21 with the second regional race set in Roxas City in Capiz in the island of Panay.

Supported this year by Adidas, Cebu Pacific, Bayview Park Hotel, Ford Phils., and the Department of Tourism, the latter joining hands with Milo Marathon for a joint tourism promotion program that will highlight the country’s natural attractions, the event is expected to have around 3,000 runners, with the 20K distance serving as the qualifying run for the Dec. 8 National Milo Marathon finals.

"We are fully supported here by both the provincial and the city governments and we have been waiting a long time for the opportunity to host this major sports event here in Roxas City," said local organizer William Medina, who invited Gov. Vicente Bermejo and Mayor Antonio del Rosario together with their provincial board members and city council to grace the occasion. "We are confident that we will have a big event this Sunday," added Medina.

Milo sports executive Jackby Jaime said movie and TV personality Jake Roxas and Sarah Christophers will join the 5K runners on the road.

The top three finishers in both the women’s and men’s divisions of the 20K qualifying race will be joining the early qualifiers from the Davao race and the other regional elimination runs in the Milo Marathon national finals set on Dec. 8 in Metro Manila, aside from receiving P10,000, P6,000, and P4,000, respectively.

For its natural attractions, the province of Capiz is known for its numerous caves, beaches, ancient churches, its Moro Tower ruins, and for being the birthplace of President Manuel Roxas for which the capital city has been named for. Among the must see sites in the province are the Quipot cave in Mambusao, the Pilar Cave in Pilar, Suhot Cave in Dumalag, the white sand beach coves of Iviaan, and the Tucad Reef in Pilar.