'Balut' vendor, commerce stude rule Singson wins men's title; Tabal dethrones Carter in Cebu leg of 34th Milo Marathon

CEBU, Philippines - The field may be vast and wide but 20 Cebuanos led by Adonis Singson and the fast-rising Mary Joy Tabal shone brightly on a beautiful Sunday morning to rule the Cebu leg of the 34th Milo National Marathon, which started and ended at the Cebu City Sports Center grounds.

For coming out the fastest in their respective divisions in a pack of over 23,000 runners that once again colored the City's main thoroughfares green, Singson and Tabal punched in tickets to the National Finals of the Nestle Philippines-sponsored footrace set on December 12 in Manila.

Singson, a 'chicharon and balut' vendor, stormed into the finish line first in the men's 21K open with the time of one hour, 15 minutes and 15 seconds. It was his first provincial title after seven tries.

“I just watched them at first while selling mineral water, chicharon and balut,” the 26-year-old Singson recalled while admitting his being a ‘late-bloomer’ in running. “It took for me a while to show up. When I was not accepted in a varsity team where I was hoping to get an athletic scholarship, I decided to be a mere street vendor because I can't afford to go to college. Not so long ago, I decided to join some races just for fun not knowing that someday I would win this big."

Jobert Carolino wound up second with a 1:15.39 clocking, enough for him to join Singson in the Manila joust.

Sherwin Managil grabbed the third spot in 1:17.10, but failed to qualify into the final battle as he was

two minutes and 10 seconds short of the qualifying time in the men's division.

Rounding up the top 10 cast were Noel Tillor (1:20.35), Dandy Maturan (1:23.18), Ian Refuela (1:23.35), Harold Estrada (1:25:50), Noy Jopson (1:27.15), Paul James Zafico (1:28.39) and Renz Ericson Gabuya (1:28.46).

In the distaff side, Tabal, a graduating commerce student from Southwestern University (SWU), crushed defending champion Madelyn Carter’s grandslam dream after she beat the latter in convincing fashion.

Tabal emerged as the new queen of Milo run here in Cebu with a time of 1:28.44, soundly defeating Carter who posted 1:31.30. Former RP weightlifter Emily Rosas landed third in 1:52.56.

Tabal was ahead of Carter from the start. From only around a hundred-meter difference, Tabal's lead widened when they reached at the South Reclamation Properties.

“Actually when we got to SRP, I was already feeling so tired but when I saw ate Mads (Carter) also slowing down, I found the energy to go on and win the title,” Tabal said.

Although she faltered in her three-peat bid, Carter's efforts were more than enough for her to join Tabal into the grand finale.

Aside from the four elite runners, 16 other Cebuanos gained entry into the national finals after completing the lung-busting tilt under the qualifying time set in the different age-groups.

These include Ironman Philippines 2010 best Pinoy entries Noy Jopson (1:27.15), Marvin Canque (1:30.08) and Enrique Mangas (1:31.12) in the 30-35 class, Demetrio Alvarez (1:33.18), Salvador Albesa (1:35.30), and Edgardo Carabuena in the 40-44 bracket and Jessie Mesa (1:31.31), Herman Cuanico (1:37.57), Jose Martin Paiso (1:39.41) and Donato Sabino (1:42.56) in the 45-49 age category.

Melinda Ponce was only the third female runner to qualify after posting 1:57.45 in the women’s 50-54 class.

Well-known running surgeon Peter Mancao made the final cut with the time of 1:41.33 in the 55-59 class along with Alejandro Geyrozaga (1:54.21), Cornelio Taneo (1:56.06) and Tommy Tan (1:56.48 clocking).

The 70-year-old Anciano Abella completed the Cebu qualifiers after crossing the finish line in 1:55.31, way too much for the 2:30 qualifying time in the 70-79 age bracket.

Of the 20 qualifiers though, only Singson, Tabal, Carter and Carolino will enjoy an all-expense paid trip to Manila during the finals.

On the other hand, Jordan Bacong ruled the men’s 10K run in 34 minutes and 21 seconds and Christy Tutor topped the women's side in 46.55. The 5K top performers were Sheena Gacayan (19:09) and Michael Estrera (15:19), while the 3K action was dominated by Adrian Saranillo (9:37) and Crizel Diongson (10:54).

Abellana National School (ANS) lorded it over in the inter-school competition with an average time of 22:53, edging out University of Cebu-Main's 23:21. UC’s Maritime Education Training Center landed third with the time of 24:42.

UC-METC, however, posted the most number of finishers with 2,318 total followed by UC-Main with 1,816 and Cebu Technological University with 330.

Southwestern University stole part of the show by winning the cheerdance contest in the secondary and tertiary divisions, while Cebu City Central School bagged the elementary crown.

On behalf of all the company officials present during the closing ceremony, Nestle Philippines sports executive Pat Goc-Ong expressed his gratitude for another major success out of the Cebu leg despite two runners being reportedly rushed to the hospital due to heat stroke and some minor injuries.

“This is really a big leap. We are introducing several firsts for Milo like the timing chip and pylons to secure the runners among others. We have also seen a huge turnout of runners especially in the 21K.We are really very impressed and we thank the Cebuanos for their all-out support to us.This is the best so far in the provincial level and we hope we can sustain this in the future,” Goc-ong told The Freeman.

And if there's one man who also felt like a champion at the end of the race, it's none other than Cebu leg coordinator Ricky Ballesteros.

Ballesteros, however, is not about to sit down and relax as he pledges support to the local runners’ training against the best of the other regions come the Nationals.

“We will constantly follow up the training of our local runners. Hopefully, we can produce another champion the Milo marathon after Roy Vence,” Ballesteros said. (FREEMAN)