UST bet tops Lipa 20K run

LIPA CITY — Noel Ricamunda pounced on the disqualification of line winner and top favorite Noel Bautista yesterday to rule the men’s division of the 20K Milo Marathon elimination race which started and ended in front of the Lipa City Hall.

Ricamunda, a 21-year-old student at University of Santo Tomas, actually finished second behind Bautista but was declared winner after the latter was disqualified because of lack of local residency for the race.

"Second or third lang ang expected ko dahil alam ko nandoon si Bautista. Nasabayan ko siya hanggang sa 13K mark, tapos nag-slow down ako dahil malakas ang pacing niya, naiwan na ako," said Ricamunda, a member of the Santo Tomas varsity track team.

Ricamunda clocked 1:11:32 for the distance and earned P10,000 plus a slot in the national finals of the prestigious footrace sponsored this year by Bayview Park Hotel, Adidas, Cebu Pacific, Ford Phils., and the Department of Tourism.

Laguna native Leodegracio Raterta, 29, a printing machine operator, took second place in 1:11:49 and received P6,000. Philippine Air Force technical sergeant Rogelio Adenig, 40, a four-time winner here, finished third in 1:13:10 for P4,000. He will join Ricamunda and Raterta in the national finals.

In the women’s side, another Santo Tomas student, top seed Analisa Yambao, 20, took the lead from the start and was never threatened en route to a solo victory in 1:25:50.

Yambao, who earned P10,000, will be joined in the national finals by Analiza Roxas, 23, who finished in 1:41:33, and Cherryl Mission, 24, who had a time of 1:54:23.

The event, which was part of the 55th foundation anniversary of Lipa City, drew close to 2,500 runners in the 5K run, more than 500 entries in the 3K run and close to a hundred in the featured 20K event.