DAGUPAN, Philippines – Wilson Maningkil topped the men’s division while Lany Cardona ruled the women’s category in the 21-k second leg of the 36th National Milo Marathon yesterday in Dagupan.
Maningkil dominated the course with a time of 1:15:28, leading the second batch of qualifiers in the men’s division.
“I’ve been training two hours everyday. Our real aspiration for training so hard is to defeat the Kenyans,” he said.
Cardona hurdled the flat cemented course with ease despite a minor injury. She crossed the finish line in 1:38:58 to pocket the P10,000 elimination prize.
They will join 28 runners led by Hernani Sore and Cristabel Martes, both of whom passed the first qualifying race held in Baguio yesterday and 11 qualifiers from the Dagupan leg in the national final on Dec.9 at the SM Mall of Asia (MOA) in Pasay.
Ferdinand Corpuz was second in 1:17:16 followed by Jeric Buhian (1:22:21), Ronnie Rosete (1:23:01) and Rogel Anajao (1:24:32).
In the distaff side, Angie Botardo of VMUF finished second behind Cardona in 1:49:10 followed by Jessa Mae Cortez (1:54:28), Jhocell Asis (2:03:59) and Maidy Soriano (2:30:25).
Umingan National High School, coach Virgillio Padilla said the school piloted an annual campaign to give shoes to athletes called “Lumang Sapatos, Ibigay sa Athlete”.
“This year, our athletes received 100 pairs of brand-new shoes,” he said.
This is the sixth consecutive year that they received honors for being the fastest school delegation.
Andrew Neri, Milo sports executive, said some 10,000 children nationwide from selected schools will also benefit from Milo’s “Help Give Shoes” advocacy program, now on its third year.