CEBU CITY — An Army officer and a wife of a retired Australian waterboard manager stole the spotlight in the Cebu leg of the Milo Marathon which drew a record field here at the Cebu Sports Complex.
Rogelio Reli, a Private First Class Officer and member of the Special Unit Force of the Philippine Army and Madelyn Carter, the Surigao-born native now based in Cebu, topped their respective divisions in the 21K race of the annual running festival.
Reli, the 28-year-old, former University of Cebu standout, finally won after two years of participation as he captured the title in the men’s side of the event, bolting out of the pack approaching the first six kilometers before pulling away en route to a one-hour, 20 minutes and 19 seconds clocking.
He was less than two minutes ahead of Eugene Delposo, who together with his younger brother, Joel, finished in the top 10.
The older Delposo, a 21-year-old graduating student at the University of Southern Philippines Foundation, placed second in one hour, 22 minutes and 12 seconds.
“I trained for five months, but only in the five to 10-kilometer run,” said Reli, who placed fourth in the Cebu leg in 2006 and runner-up in 2001 while competing in the PRISAA meet.
Delposo failed to catch up with Reli, but blamed his foot injury which he incurred during the race as the reason why he came up short.
“My foot injury hampered my training,” said Delposo, who placed third last year in the Bohol leg.
In the distaff side, Carter proved to be too much against her rivals with only American Katie Fischer giving her a good fight.
Aware of Fischer’s capabilities, the 28-year-old daughter of a ricefield owner in Surigao broke free early and dictated the tempo all the way to the
convincing victory. She clocked in one hour, 37 minutes and two seconds.
“Magaling kasi yung si Fischer,” said Carter. “I also took the advice of former champion Liezel Geteruelas that this is my big chance to win.”
Fischer, a journalism graduate from University of Wisconsin Madison and a marketing staff in Big Foot Entertainment Film School, was happy
with her performance despite finishing runner-up. She submitted a time of one hour, 41 minutes and 26 seconds.
“I am having a good time here and I’m looking forward to competing in the National Finals in Manila,” said Fischer, who also worked as an intern
for a State Newspaper in Wisconsin State University.
Terson Pamaybay and Emily Chiongbian checked in third in their respective divisions to join the top two qualifiers in the men’s and women’s 21K in the
42K National Finals late this year.
Other winners were Ian Bernido and Ulessica Jagna (5K) while age group winners were Relmark Dignos and Crizel Diongson (6-9), and Charles Dave Beboso and Crizelda Allanec (10-12).