1st Press Freedom Run: Pages, Acuña rule

CEBU, Philippines - John Pages and Haide Acuña ruled the inaugural Press Freedom Run - the culminating event of this year’s Cebu Press Freedom Week – held at Cebu Business Park yesterday.

Pages, president of the Sportswriters Association of Cebu (SAC) and sports columnist of Sunstar, sustained a blistering pace and crossed the finish line in 21:51.20 to rule the men’s division of the 5K Run.

Acuña, the news anchor of ABS-CBN Cebu, ran a trouble-free race, despite nursing a minor foot injury, finishing 27:12.37 in winning the women’s category.

Edrin Aznar, a member of SAC and sportswriter of Sunstar, came in second in 23:49.01 while Jorlito Montecillo of Wild FM came in third in 24:04.00.

The mileage accumulated by Pages, in preparing for next month’s Quezon City International Marathon and other marathons before that, paid off. In December last year, he completed Standard Chartered Marathon in Singapore.

Pages let the others run wild in the first half kilometer then slowly picked up the pace along Samar Loop, an elevated part of the route. From there, Pages ran unopposed to the finish.

 “We’ve been practicing for the Quezon City Marathon so psychologically I felt I could run a little faster,” Pages said after the race.

Acuña bagged her second straight 5K win. Two weeks ago, she won the IBP Run. Like Pages, she’s been preparing for the Quezon City Marathon.

Acuña raced with a wrapped right foot but the injury was hardly a factor.

 “At first I thought Marlen (Limpag) will win because she was going fast. After the second kilometer, I saw Marlen slowed down so I picked up speed and overtook her. There was no turning back from there,” Acuña said.

Marlen Limpag of Sun Star was second in 29:30.23 with Charmy Sabigan of Bombo Radyo clocking 38:42.96 to finish third.

Pages and Acuña received P2,500 each and a medal for their efforts. The second and third placers in both divisions received P1,500 and P1,000, respectively, plus medals. All the participants will be receiving certificates.

In the 3K category, Jun Migallen and Irenelou Llego of Sun Star were too much for the rest of the field.

Migallen won in 15:40.89 despite running without any sleep the night before. Ike Durano of DYRF and Ariel Gomez of CDN, completed the top three men’s finishers with times of 17:16.56 and 17:46.51, respectively.

The diminutive Llego was way ahead of her field. She was with the main pack of runners including those running the 5K. She clocked 15:40.70, faster than the men’s winning time. Maridel Cresencio of DYRF was second in 18:17.12 and Jovy Gerodias of Sun Star was third in 22:48.90..

Close to 100 media practitioners from print, TV and radio suited up for the race.

Raffy Uytiepo, the race director, couldn’t hide his satisfaction with the turnout. “There was a good turnout despite all the distractions of the Press Freedom Week celebration – forums, seminars and parties. It’s very difficult to gather media men but a lot of them came to the race. I think the media has joined the running madness,” he said.

Precing Capanpangan of the United Track and Field Association (UTAFA), Joel Juarez and Lyle Larida were there to help supervise the race.

Uytiepo said the turnout didn’t escape the eyes of the editors of Sun Star, who will the conveners of the 2010 Press Freedom Week, who vowed to include the run in the calendar of events. (RBO) (THE FREEMAN)