Newcomers steal show in Milo run

TACLOBAN CITY —— Edgar Lapasigue from Catbalogan, Samar and Camila Luterte, a native of Baybay, Leyte, emerged first-time champions at the Tacloban Milo Marathon regional elimination race that saw a record field of over 5,400 participants, including the 3K and 5K fun runners.

A veteran marathoner who also completed the Pasig Heritage Marathon and the recent Manila Marathon earlier this year, Lapasigue, 23, trained for six months for this event and it paid off as he qualified for the first time in three tries for the national finals of the 27th Milo Marathon set in October in Manila.

" Sa last kilometer ko lang hinataw at naiwanan ko yung second placer, sa national finals kahit top ten lang makapasok, okay na, " said Lapasigue, who clocked 1:09.42 and earned P10,000 for the effort.

Demetrio Rosales, 24, from Hilongos, Leyte, duplicated his runner-up finish for the third time as he paid the price for his lack of training. He clocked 1:10.02 while third placer Alvin Magpatoc, 1:10.59, completed the region’s male qualifiers to the national finals of the event, held in partnership this year with Cebu Pacific, Bayview Park Hotel, adidas, Power Bar, My Globe, and the DOT.

The story of the race, fired off by Leyte Gov. Remedios Petilla across the provincial capitol, was the victory of 40-year-old Luterte in the women’s division of the 20K run as she took up running only three months ago, and prior to last Sunday’s race had only run a 10K race in Cebu.

"Yung mga anak ko kasi mga runners din, asawa ko dating runner din, at marami akong dapat bayaran na mga utang, bigay itong panalo ko ito ng Diyos," said Luterte, who went home P10,000 richer while her son Gilbert won P1,500 for his runner-up finish in the 5K run.

Runa Delbo, 18, an education student at the Leyte Normal University, was relieved just to finish the race as she only trained for less than a week. "Lakad at takbo nga ginawa ko, naiyak ako sa finish line, " said Delbo who clocked a distant 2:04.48 to Luterte’s 1:32.17 time. Third placer and last qualifier to the finals was 24 year old Christina Chua, just a second behind Delbo at 2:04.49.

In the 5K run, Elmer Dilpos, Gilbert Duterte, and Ronnel Bartiquin finished 1-2-3 in that order, clocking 16;38, 16;39, and 16;53 while in the distaff side, Erika estacion was champion in 21;13, followed by Annielyn Tegio, 21;23, and Geralyn Donez, 22:48.

Gerald Glindro ruled the 9 & below 3K kiddie run, boys’ division, in 12;55 while Crisnalyn Allanec was first in the girls side with a time of 17:24 , in the 10 to 12 years for the same distance, Alberto Garde took first place in 12:28 and Elyssa Estacion was an easy winner among the girls in 14;50.

The Tacloban race was the 4th leg of the Milo Marathon series following earlier legs in Naga City, Roxas City, and Tuguegarao while this Sunday the 5th regional elimination race will be held in Lipa City in Batangas, a week before the big race in Metro Manila on July 27, according to national race organizer Rudy Biscocho.

‘ So far we are on target for the number of runners we are targeting after the first 4 legs, we expect to hit a total of 60,000 runners " said Pat Goc-Ong, Milo Sports Executive.