What kids can learn from running

If you ask Dennis Austriaco, Nestle SVP and business executive manager for beverages, why sports — and running in particular — is important to the country, he will tell you that it’s not just the physical aspect that’s beneficial, it’s also the fact that our children learn about life from sports. 

“There’s the physical side to it,” Dennis says at the recent launching of this year’s Milo Marathon. “And then there are the other aspects — children learn discipline, dedication, values and the commitment to finish something that they started. Running is a real-life example: you start a race, you finish it.”

This has never been more evident than at the 32nd Milo eliminations in Manila in August 2008, a day when the skies opened up and really poured down just as the gun went off at 6 a.m. By the time the thousands of runners — majority of them high school students — crossed the finish line, everybody was soaked to the bones. It was, literally, wet and wild with thousands of short-distance runners making their way across Roxas Boulevard and back to the Quirino Grandstand.

“Since the 1970s, Milo has taken up sports to build ‘champions in life.’ You see children and teenagers in the provinces at 3 a.m., warming up, getting ready. Sports teaches them perseverance. Even I use running in terms of building values in my team and organization.”

Since Milo Marathon started in 1973, the company has dedicated a sizable budget annually to developing its advocacy. Its top three programs are the Milo Marathon, the Milo Little Olympics, and the Milo Summer Clinic, which is held in more than a thousand cities nationwide, encompassing 13 sports including swimming, football, karate, gymnastics, taekwondo, and even ice-skating in partnership with SM Malls. 

Dennis says Milo holds 26,000 day-events in a year, which means that every day there are about 71 Milo events happening around the country, “so you can imagine how many people we get to touch through sports.” In 2008, around 200,000 people participated in the marathon’s calendar year.

The 33rd edition of the National Milo Marathon begins today, Feb. 8, in Subic and Dipolog. Dennis and his team are bringing improvements to this year’s edition, such as new events in the races. For the first time in its history, there will be a half marathon (21K) held in the Manila leg (previous years’ events were 5K, 10K, and 42K) and in the provinces there will be 10K races (it used to be only full and half marathons).

They are also staging weekly simultaneous races in two cities for a total of 27 cities around the Philippines. The Manila and Cebu legs will be held on July 5, Davao and Tarlac on July 12, Butuan and Santiago on July 19, Cagayan de Oro and Laoag on July 26, Tacloban and San Fernando on Aug. 2, Tagbilaran and Baguio on Aug. 9, Roxas and Dagupan on Aug. 16, Iloilo and Legazpi on Aug. 23, Bacolod and Naga on Aug. 30, and Dumaguete and San Pablo on Sept. 6. The national finals will be in Manila on Oct. 4, with the top prize being P75,000 for the men and women’s divisions.

“It’s another challenge that we’re definitely looking forward to and we know that the simultaneous races will further add excitement to the event, which gets bigger with each staging,” says Nestle AVP and Milo sports event executive Pat Goc-ong, who heads the team behind the brand’s sports program.

“Our priority is to make the marathon much more professional, to ensure the health and safety of the participants,” adds Dennis. “It’s a real logistical challenge given the number of people participating.”

All these events are being planned by a small team of “Nestle boys,” four executives who are passionate about sports — including former basketball player Andrew Neri, former national athlete for weight lifting Pat Goc-Ong, and runner Dennis Austriaco. The biggest challenge they are now facing is translating the infrastructure and wide reach of Milo into a list of potential national athletes.

“We’ve always said to ourselves is that we can provide the country grassroots sports development because Milo is everywhere, it’s for kids and the whole idea of sports as a means to develop values resonates in each of us,” says Dennis. “It is in our interest to develop the new generation of runners. Hopefully, in the coming years, we will see this — from grassroots to Lydia de Vega and Elma Muros. Now we just have Manny Pacquiao, and boxing is not even as accessible as running. I’ve always maintained that running is the cheapest sport to do. It’s a great equalizer, whether you’re rich or poor, you can run and excel.”

One such product of Milo Marathon is Mercedita Manipol-Fetalvero, who started in 5K and 10K, and holds the record for both events in road running. In 2003, she broke the 5K record (established in 1980) with a time of 16:40.

“What we lack is a system that picks out and develops talents. The NSAs are here, but the government probably needs more budget and more modern techniques in developing athletes. My gut feel tells me running as a sport hasn’t peaked yet, even with all the races happening in Metro Manila.”

Dennis hopes that in the coming years, Milo Marathon will transcend being an event to actually becoming the event where young people begin their dreams and the country gets its roster of national athletes.

“It’s worthy cause,” says Dennis.

One that’s actually worth going the distance for.

Milo started with 767 runners when it held its first marathon in May 1974. Last year, 200,000 participated throughout the marathon’s calendar year with the biggest participation in the Cebu leg. This year it will stage 13 simultaneous races all over the country and will have, for the first time, a half marathon in the Manila leg.