Pascua, Taypoc dominate Milo Laoag leg

MANILA, Philippines - Reynaldo Pascua of Ilocos Norte and Baguio’s Mercy Taypoc dominated their respective divisions to top the kickoff leg of the National Milo Marathon in Laoag last Sunday.

Pascua turned in a one-hour, 16-minute and 22-second clocking to rule the 21k run in the men’s division while Taypoc clocked 1:36.24 in ruling the distaff side of the annual event

Both pocketed P10,000 each and clinched slots in the national finals set Dec. 11 in Manila.

Jay Viloria finished second behind Pascua in 1:16.33 worth P6,000 while Edison Melchor placed third in 1:20:54 and took home P4,000.

Sandi Menchi Abahan timed 1:47:05 while Anna Liza Maraan clocked 1:55:39 to finish second and third, respectively, in the ladies side.

The 42-year-old Pascua, a part-time construction worker, fisherman and farm hand, had previously joined 12 Milo run seasons, topping the Northern Luzon legs in 2004 to 2007 and 2009. He placed fifth in the 1996 national finals.

Taypoc, 23, took up the sport just two years ago and topped the Baguio elims last year.

Around 5,000 runners took part in the Laoag leg, which also featured the 10k, 5k and 3k races. It was the seventh time the Milo Marathon held an elims race in the Ilocos town.

Meanwhile, the second leg will be held in Dagupan this Sunday.

Students from Dingras National High School, Pila Elem. School, Alipio Ignacio Elem. School, Cabuloan Elem. School and Casili Elem. School received 500 pairs of shoes as part of Milo Marathon’s “Help Give Shoes” advocacy. 

Last year, a total of 4,200 pairs were donated to public school children nationwide.

This season, in line with Nestle’s celebration of 100 years, the project aims to give 100 pairs of shoes to 100 students from 100 schools nationwide for a total of 10,000 more shoes.

The local government of Ilocos Norte, represented by Gov. Imee Marcos, expressed elation over the running event.

“We are honored and very happy that Laoag has been selected as one of the 17 nationwide legs of the National Milo Marathon. We have seen a number of runners from neighboring provinces flock to Laoag for the race, and we would like to continue hosting running events like these in the future,” said Marcos.