Hail Mary, full of Joy: Tabal shares limelight with her coach Philip Duenas in Cebu leg of Milo Marathon

CEBU, Philippines - John Philip Duenas only used to coach Mary Joy Tabal. Now they're in the spotlight together - as winners.

Duenas and Tabal stood the proudest and shone the brightest in a record field of 24,067 runners after they topped the 21K open category of the highly-successful 37th National Milo Marathon-Cebu leg starting at the Cebu Normal University (CNU) grounds and ending at the Cebu City Sports Center yesterday.

After five years, running coach Duenas finally shared the victory stand with his prized protégé, even as they also breached the qualifying time in their respective divisions that earned them both an all-expense paid trip to the grand finals on December 8 at the SM Mall of Asia in Pasay City.

"I'm so happy because I've fulfilled my wish to be a champion here," said the Danao City-native Duenas, who only placed third the first time he joined this Nestle Philippines-bankrolled race in 2008. "I am doubly happy because Joy also won the women's title and we both qualify for the national finals."

Upon seeing her potential, Duenas persuaded Tabal, who was then his co-athlete at Southwestern University (SWU) back in 2009, to shift from being a sprinter into a long distance runner. That piece of advice blossomed into  a beautiful relationship between the two athletic stars.

“She (Tabal) was really a sprinter before, but I know she has the capability to be a long distance runner that's why I encouraged her to train harder. Seeing her reach her full potentials is something that I am truly proud of,"  Duenas said.

Duenas finished the race with the fastest time of one hour, 15 minutes and 24 seconds.

Bonifacio Monjas landed at second place with the time of 1:16:32 followed by Argie Tillor and Paul James Zafico, who settled for third and fourth with a 1:19:57 and 1:22:10 clockings, respectively.

Rounding up the top 10 cast in the men's division were Ian Refuela (1:23:18), Jboy Magbologtong(1:25:28), Joey Oacan (1:25:59), Desederio Engbino (1:26:14), Andy Tonacao (1:28:23) and Joseph Arnel Emia (1:29:09).

Tabal, on the other hand, touched down the finish line with the best time of one hour, 24 minutes and 50 seconds. It was her third Cebu leg crown after posting back-to-back wins in 2010 and 2011. She missed last year's title to an Ethiopian runner.

This time, foreign runners were allowed to join the 21K battle only for fun. They may also take part in the national finals provided that they have joined and qualified to race on a 42.195-km event sanctioned by the Association of International Marathons and Distance Races and the International Association of Athletics Federations.

“It's the first time that we emerged as champions together. What makes our victory even more sweeter is the relative improvement of our times," said Tabal.

Cebu leg organizer Ricky Ballesteros is putting his bet on Tabal to be the next national champion, something that Milo Sports Executive Andrew Neri feels is very achievable considering that most of the national team tracksters,  including defending champion Mary Grace de los Santos, are seeing action in the SEA Games in Myanmar.

“Joy Tabal really has a good chance to be the national champion," said Neri.

Former Cebu road running queen Christy Sevilleno-Tutor wound up second in the women's category with a 1:40:58 clocking as Sandra Soliano came out third in 1:43:21.

Completing the top 10 list were ultramarathoners Virginia Parajenog (1:45:29), Rhodora Oporto (1:46:23), and Odiza Abellana(1:52:21), Wilma Theresa Lugay (1:55:16), Julieta Hermosilla (1:55:30), Emily Rosas (1:57:28), and Joy Postanes (2:01:39).

Kenyan Isaac Simat may be barred from competing in the 21K race, but he didn’t feel bad about it and was just as happy to win the men’s 10K action.

Simat, who is studying in Negros Oriental State University, said he joined the Cebu leg to test his skills against the locals knowing that the Cebuanos are competitive runners. He was not disappointed.

“This is the first time I joined Milo and I felt good. I ran against strong Cebuanos and there is even this 16 year-old runner that I ran against that really has a potential. I know that boy will one day become a champion in long distance running,” said Simat, who clocked in 33 minutes and 57 seconds.

  In the women's 10K, Mary Jane Beboso claimed the top spot with the time of 44:49. The youthful Jhean Andrin ended up second in 47:38.

Jhean Andrin, however, still felt victorious after seeing her two sisters Lovely Fe and Cherry winning their respective classes.

    Lovely Fe posted back-to-back victories in the women’s 5K with the time of 19:36, while the men’s side has John Cliff Debulosan grabbing the champion's trophy with a 16:52 clocking.

Cherry, for her part, reigned supreme in the girls 3K class with a very slim margin over Mark Joy Loberanis, the golden girl of the Milo Little Olympics. Cherry posted the time of 11:22, just 37 seconds ahead of Loberanis.

Dave Anthon Lungcob came up with the most thrilling win of all, taking away the men's 3K title with the time of 11:50, just four seconds ahead of Anthony Consgrave. Jovenel Oyao occupied the third spot in 12:16.

In the exciting side events, Team Runners bagged the first inter-company’s biggest delegation award with 113 finishers under the 5K and 10K categories, while 53DR EBDE PA was the fastest delegation with an average time of 54:08.45.

The Cebu Technological University (CTU), who also fielded in some deaf students, bested the  University of Cebu (UC) for the biggest school delegation award with a total of 3,002 finishers as against 2,793 of UC. Southwestern U was third with 691 finishers under the 3K and 5K run.

Abellana National School got the fastest delegation award with an average time of 21:47 under the 5K class followed by CTU (23:57) and UC (23:59).

In the colorful cheerdance contest, the University of the Visayas, University of San Carlos and Cebu City Central School lorded it over in their respective divisions.

Overall, the credit goes to the organizers for coming up with another smooth-flowing and well-managed race that even set the bar higher in staging an event of such magnitude.