Cebuanos king, queen in Milo manila run

MANILA, Philippines — They came. They saw. They conquered.

All by themselves to represent the Queen City of the South, two Cebuano runners landed in the nation’s capital with no fanfare and took its streets in runaway fashion, emerging as the king and queen of the 2024 National Milo Marathon Manila leg at the Mall of Asia Arena Concert Grounds.

Both blue-collar workers in Cebu, teammates Florendo Lapiz and Lizane Abella of Spectrum Runners were no tourists at the Acropolis in the wee hours of a torrid Sunday by the bay as they worked their tails off through to the finish line of the 42-kilometer full marathon – by their lonesome with no shadow of their peers behind them.

Lapiz, a 33-year-old welder in a shipyard just north of Carcar City, clocked two hours, 42 minutes and 33 seconds to beat his closest foe by more than seven minutes while the 35-year-old Abella, an electronics production operator from Minglanilla, timed 3:21:05, five minutes faster than her bridesmaid.

Salvador Polilio (2:49:54) and Welfred Esporma (2:58:51) were the runners-up in men’s race while Maricar Camacho (3:26:19) and Jewel de Luna (3:27:05) finished second and third, respectively, in the distaff side.

Dominance was an understatement for the Cebuano pair in their Manila conquests and their first Milo championships.

“Pang-apat na karera ko na po ito sa Milo at pangatlo sa 42K, sa awa ng Diyos, nanalo rin,” said Lapiz, who was supposed to just drop his uncle off from his motorcycle to a marathon event in Cebu 10 years ago only to participate as well, and the rest was history.

Lapiz, also a fisherman on his days off, had fourth-place and second-place finishes in the previous Milo races before breaking through, earning the fruit of his hard labor during the pandemic.

Milo, which is celebrating its 60th year in bringing out the champion in every Filipino, returned to action last year albeit with limited races before a full-swing comeback this year with 15 races – including the national finals in Cagayan de Oro in December.

“Kalaban ko sarili ko noon. Kailangan kada araw, nahihigitan ko sarili ko. Hindi ako huminto sa training kasi sabi ko kapag bumalik ang mga karera, mas mabuting handa ako,” said Lapiz, recalling his training in the mountainous terrain of Carcar all the way to the city streets and back.

It’s also a sweet, sweet wait for Abella, wife of a fellow runner in Lapu-Lapu City. Or third time’s a charm for Abella after bronze-medal finishes in two previous Milo runs.

And she could have not achieved it any sweeter than a victory pulled off after trailing behind pacer Camacho in the first 32 kilometers.

“Para po ito sa mga anak ko, para sa pag-aaral nila,” said Abella, a mother of three who had to stop training for the birth of her youngest.

Lapiz and Abella arrived in Manila on Friday with a little more than 24 hours to acclimatize with the hotter Manila weather. They will come home to their families with a P50,000 grand prize each that they intend to use for the long-overdue repair of their old houses. Then there are their new pairs of running shoes.

On top of all these was the distinction of making Cebu not just about the mouthwatering lechon, pungko-pungko and tuslob buwa, pristine beaches, majestic waterfalls, sharks, historic churches and landmarks, Sinulog festival, Mactan Shrine, Magellan’s Cross, and the Cebu-Cordova Link Expressway (CCLEX).

Cebu may be the oldest city in the country. In the Milo marathon, it just became the newest city of champions, standing tall and proud like its fabled hero Lapu-Lapu.

Over 800 kilometers away from their roots, Lapiz and Abella came, saw and conquered Manila. And CDO could be next.

NOTES: National team campaigners and multi-titled Milo marathoner Richard Salano (1:08:38) and Christine Hallasgo (1:24:27) ruled the 21-km half marathon. James Darryl Orduna (32:23) and Anisha Caluya (48:03) won the 10K, Noli Torre (16:18) and Sheila Moreno (22:08) reigned in 5K, Robi Rosadia (12:15) and Megan Palad (14:14) topped the 3K as Ron Valenzuela (3:36) and Christine Galicia (4:19) bannered the 1K races.