Delfin, Cortel book trip to Milo run finals

ROXAS CITY, Philippines – Top finishers Hanny Jean Delfin of San Antonio Cuartero, Capiz and Cerila Cortel of Roxas City, made the cut off time of one hour, 35 minutes in the 21K women’s eliminaiton race yesterday to qualify for the 33rd Milo Marathon national finals slated Oct. 11 in Metro Manila.

Delfin clocked 1:30:50 to capture her fourth straight leg title while Cortel, who placed runner-up in Roxas City for the third time, clocked 1:32:01.

Despite aiming hard to win the race and getting her personal best time in the 21K race, Cortel just couldn’t unseat Delfin.

Cortel had a breakthrough during last year’s national finals when she finished sixth place overall in the 42K race and fared better than the 11th placed Delfin. But Delfin trained hard for race, posting her best clocking in the 21K race.

Aside from an all-expense-paid round-trip ticket to the national finals, Delfin and Cortel also won trophies and cash prizes of P10,000 and P6,000, respectively.

Settling for far third in the women’s race of the country’s biggest foot race held in partnership with Bayview Park Hotel-Manila and the Department of Tourism was Janette Delfin, who posted a subpar clocking of 1:47:17.

According to Nestle AVP Pat Goc-ong, no runner met the qualifying time of 1:15:00 for the men’s 21K race.

Topping the men’s division was Rommel Hulleza of Himamaylan, Negros Occidental in 1:16:57.

In the absence of tough competitors, the student athlete from West Negros University led from start to finish in claiming his first Milo Marathon leg championship.

Placing second and third in the men’s were Eugene Alvarez (1:23:46) and Rex Tajaulangit (1:28:31).

Ruling the 10K side event were Reynold Eduque (37:35) in the men’s and Jearlyn Bornales (43:36) in the women’s. The winners in the 5K fun run were Jomar Campos (17:29) in the men’s and Roslyn Motita (22:16) in the women’s.

The 3K race for kids was dominated by 11-year-old Renz Berg Arollado (11:29) and 12-year-old Jealyn Lancita (12:25).

The Roxas City leg was held simultaneously with the Dagupan City leg, which was ruled by Rogelio Rely and Lanny Cardona. Rely failed to qualify for the National Finals with a time of 1:16:20. Lanny Cardona clocked 1:35:27 to become the lone qualifier for the Dagupan City elimination leg.

Come Sunday, the 33rd National Milo Marathon will hold another twin races in Iloilo City and Legazpi City.