Sermona, Dizu rule Milo marathon leg

MANILA, Philippines - Former Milo marathon king Julius Sermona and Merdeliza Dizu dominated their rivals to top their respective divisions in the rain-hit fourth leg of the 36th National Milo Marathon in Angeles City yesterday.

Sermona, a former member of the national team, posted a time of 1:13:02 in the 21K run to rule the men’s division and lead several others into the national finals set Dec. 9 at the Mall of Asia grounds in Pasay.

The 34-year-old Sermona, winner of two silver medals (5,000, and 10,000,) in the 2007 SEA Games in Bangkok, had a personal best of 2:21:53 when he dominated the Milo finals in 2006.

“I focused on endurance training, road running, a once-a-week workout and hard training,” Sermona said.

“For the finals, I plan to increase the volume and intensity of my routine. I plan to run a few short-distance divisional races and add about 5 to 10K to my training as well. I want to defeat the Kenyans in the open division, which is why I hope to avoid injuries,” he added.

Quisay Alley checked in second at 1:14:11 while Ryan Mendoza placed third in 1:17:32.

Dizu, meanwhile, beat Geralden Sealza in the final 200 meters to top the women’s division in 1:36:07. Sealza settled for second with a clocking of 1:37:21, followed by Marychiel Minas-Morales in 1:42:04.

“Since school started this June, I have been training everyday for an hour. I focused on endurance since I’m used to being a mid-distance runner,” said Dizu. “This is actually the first time I ran the 21K track. I’m very happy to win.”

Dizu, 19, added that she has yet to decide whether to pursue the local or open category this year. “It depends on my coach. I am still trying to pace myself and to gauge my capabilities as a runner.”

Both Sermona and Dizu will lead 34 other qualifiers to the national finals.

Earlier, former three-time national Milo champion and veteran SEA Games champion Eduardo Buenavista (1:13:29) and Miscelle Gilbuena (1:37:29) advanced to the grand finals when they topped the Tarlac City elims last week.

Organizers are expecting a total of 40,000 runners, of which over 2,000 runners registered for the 42K track, to participate in the Metro Manila qualifying leg on July 29 at the SM Mall of Asia ground in Pasay City.