Buenavista, Maquilan reign in Mizuno Run

MANILA, Philippines - Eduardo Buenavista and Maricel Maquilan dominated the centerpiece 15-kilometer foot race of the fourth Mizuno Infinity Run yesterday at the Bonifacio Global City in Taguig.

Buenavista, who also topped the race last year, clocked 48 minutes, 58 seconds in claiming his second straight Mizuno Infinity Run crown.

Coming in at second place was Alley Quisay, who paced the runners in the first half of the competition.

“From the turnaround point, I moved past Quisay and picked it up from there,” said Buenavista, who is preparing for a stint in the Asian Games in November.

Quisay finished the race in 50:05 while third placer Reynaldo delos Reyes checked in at the 54:50 mark.

Like in the men’s race, the distaff side was a one-sided affair as Maquilan pulled away three kilometers into the race and never looked back. She registered a clocking of 1:02:06.

Placing second and third, respectively, were Luisa Raterta (1:03:06) and Monica Torres (1:03:18).

The race in the 10K side event for men’s proved to be more thrilling as three runners – Bernardo Desamito Jr and Sabal brothers Elmer and Gerald – battled toe to toe right from the start.

In the end, however, Desamito took the title in 34:04. He was followed by Elmer (34:17) and Gerald (34:48).

Topping the women’s 10K run was Nhea Ann Barcena (42:00) whose nearest pursuer, second placer Adjennie delos Santos, was 3:24 behind.

The top three finishers in the 5K fun run were Ben Alejandrino (14:36), Roger Denolo (15:00) and Derek Amarante (15:08) in the men’s and 12-year-old Michelle De Vera (19:13), eight-year-old Leonalyn Raterta (20:33) and veteran runner Genevieve Dela Peña (20:47) in the women’s.

All winners received cash prizes, gift packs and medals from the race organizers. The age-group winners in each race categories also received prizes.

For the first time also, organizers recognized runners whose time had the greatest improvement from last year’s race.

In the 15K race, John-John Jacob and Jennifer Zandueta had the best improvement.

From a clocking of 2:01:38 last year, Jacob timed 1:24:17 yesterday for a difference of 37:21. Zandueta, on the other hand, finished the race at 2:24:41 last year and improved to 1:29:45 yesterday for a difference of 54:56.

The other winners were Hector Oquindo (19:56) and Ina Bautista (47:36) in the 10K run and Lincoln Lim (33:43) and Cheryl Golangco (22:54) in the 5K race.