Milo grand finals draw elite field of runners

MANILA, Philippines - A total of 235 men and women runners advanced to the finals of the 33rd National Milo Marathon Finals slated on Oct. 11 in Manila.

Of the total qualifiers who survived the eight-month, 26-leg nationwide elimination races, 169 are from Metro Manila, 160 of them men.

The runners will converge in Manila all expenses paid to challenge reigning men champion Eduardo Buenavista and current women queen Mercedita Manipol Fetalvero in the strength-sapping 42k contest. The men and women champion each brings home P75,000 plus elegant glass trophies.

Rene Desuyo and Christabel Martes, the 2005 Manila SEA Games marathon winner, topped the Metro Manila leg men and women division, respectively.

Prominent qualifiers include two-time marathon champion Allan Ballester, Alley Quisay, Rogelio Sarmiento, Ronald Despi and Reynaldo de los Reyes, Jho-Ann Banayag, Aileen Tolentino, Geraldine Sealza, Librada Tamson, Meshelle Villanueva, Maricel de la Peña and Rosario Alberto.

Ballester, the 2000-2001 champion, Desuyo, Quisay, Bernardo Desamito Jr., and the Sabal brothers, Cresenciano, Gerald and Elmer loom as the biggest threat to Buenavista’s title retention bid.

The SEA Games-bound Buenavista, the 2002 and 2008 champion, is seeking to duplicate the three-peat feats of Jimmy de la Torre and Wilfredo Ballester.

Buenavista holds the best record 2:18.33 he registered during the 2007 Metro Manila elimination.

De la Torrre, from Pototan, Iloilo, won the race in 1981, 82 and 84 while Ballester, from Sorsogon, did the trick in 1985, 90 and 91. On record, Roy Vence holds the still unmatched six titles in 1993, 94, 96, 98, 99 and 2004. Vence qualified to the finals by placing third in the Batangas leg topped by Alquin Bolivar.

Martes and Banayag, both former marathon champions, are picked to provide strong challenge to Fetalvero, who is making the race her final preparation for the Laos SEA meet in December.