Montemayor, Quiñones reign supreme in 7-Eleven Trail bike race

MANILA, Philippines — Still the king and queen of the cross-country marathon.

Emmanuel Dave Montemayor completed a men’s three-peat while national campaigner Nicole Quiñones was hailed as the women’s back-to-back champion after photo finish victories in the 7-Eleven Trail 2025 over the weekend at the Timberland Heights in San Mateo, Rizal.

Montemayor, who rode his bike from Bulacan all the way to Timberland as a warm-up, clocked in one hour, 47 minutes and six seconds in the enduring 40-km trail to make history.

He bested his pal James Carl dela Cruz (1:47:07) by the slimmest of margins following a climactic sprint in the last 100 meters.

It’s the same story for the Philippine national cycling team member Quiñones, who covered the dreaded single-loop course comprised a mix of road climbs, fire roads and single tracks in 2:12:40 to prevail over teammate Shagne Yao (2:12:41) in a close duel in the last 150 meters.

Both, who took home P25,000 each, will test their mettle in the PhilCycling National Championships for Road in Tagaytay this week, getting a much-needed momentum with sweet crows in trail, where they ran away from the pack as early as the first 10 kms.

“Masaya na mahirap. Kahit mahirap, nagawa pa na rin nating depensahan. Binigay pa rin. Ito na po siguro pinakamahirap kong panalo,” said Montemayor, hoping to make the national team this time with rare hat-trick in trail cycling.

“Ginawa ko lang po ‘yung best ko at ito, naging maganda ‘yung result. Sobrang saya po sa puso na alam mong nag-payoff ‘yung hardwork mo,” added Quiñones, daughter of senior trail champion and former Southeast Asian Games gold medalist Eusebio “Eboy” Quiñones.

Jerico Rivera (1:48:29) completed the men’s podium while Adel Pia Sendrijas (2:16:07) finished third in the women’s overall of the ninth 7-Eleven bike trail, which gathered almost 1,500 participants.

Meanwhile, Cleo Dale Morales (2:01:30), Laurent Briel Ballog (2:01:34) and Jan Alfred Dominic Ong (2:03:27) topped the junior division (16-18 Male) as 7-Eleven put premium on trail cycling entering its milestone 10th edition.

And Philippine Seven Corporation president & CEO Jose Victor Paterno beamed with pride and honor for this sustained success of the 7-Eleven Trail Series — all for the sake of Philippine cycling.

“I think we have made a positive impact on Philippine cycling. As a former amateur racer myself, I feel like I owe a lot to Philippine cycling in terms of keeping me healthy, keeping me motivated, keeping the mind fresh and learning how to compete again,” said Paterno.