Kings of the road

After capturing the crown in the other Sunday's 30th Milo Marathon Finals in Manila, Julius Sermona of Binalbagan, Negros Occidental proved once more that the road belongs to the Ilonggo runners. Of course I'm happy with the victory considering the fact that Julius started his running career in my Adidas Pharmaton10K Circuit. Thus, Julius joined several Ilonggo marathoners who at one time or another ruled the Milo Marathon. Two of the more popular runners were the late Jimmy Dela Torre of Pototan Iloilo who won the event three times and my protégé Herman Suizo of Santa Barbara also in Iloilo. Suizo was also a former national record holder (2:19.50) who placed 51st among 116 runners in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.

The other Ilonggo winners were Rey Antoque and Eriberto Diaz of Bago City. My other protégé Roy Vence won the Milo Marathon, a record 6 times but he's from Bogo, Cebu. Going back to this year's Milo Race, two more Ilonggos landed in the top 10, these were Rene Desuyo of Bacolod, sixth in 2:29:36 and Eric Panique also of Bacolod, 10th in 2:31:20. Another Milo champion is Olympian Vertek Buenavista who hails from Sto. Niño, Gen. Santos City. The Ilonggo-speaking Vertek claims his roots came from Iloilo. Other notable Ilonggos who always figure in the top ten are Rey Delos Reyes, Rene Herrera, Mario Castro, Danny Daniela and Adonis Lobaton.

ASIAN Games Marathon

Speaking of Vertek Buenavista, I believe he made a costly decision of joining the lead pack in the Asian Games Marathon in Doha, Qatar. The pint-sized Vertek (4'11") could just have trailed the leaders including eventual champion Mubalak Hassan Shami a former Kenyan who took up Qatari citizenship last year. Shami clocked 2:12:44. Another Kenyan Khalid Kamal Yasen who now runs for Bahrain came in second in a photo finish with Japan's Satoshi Osako. Both timed 2:15:36. How about Vertek? When I met him about two months ago in Manila, Vertek said he's training very well and intends to clock 2:15. Vertek's best time is 2:18.40. His fast pace in the early going of the race took its toll as he sputtered midway to clock 2:14:50. In contrast, Sermona registered a better time of 2:21:52 in the Milo Marathon back home.

Midnight Run And Cebu Marathon

Registration to the 6th Cebu Midnight 5K Run is now in the full swing at the PSC Office at the Cebu City Sports Center and at the City Sports Club Cebu at the Cebu Business Park. The race will again be limited to 400 runners on a fist-come-first-served basis. Registration fee of P150.00 will include singlet, certificate and midnight snacks. Registration to the Sinulog Marathon which will now be held either on Feb. 18 or Feb. 25 is also on going at the PSC office while entry forms is also available at Casa Ilongga at Robinsons Place Foodcourt in the Fuente Osmeña. The 42K race was moved when the ASEAN Summit was postponed on the same week.