Queen Mary Joy Tabal and King Eduardo “Vertek” Buenavista, champions of the 37th MILO Marathon National Finals.
PASAY CITY – Cebu’s pride Mary Joy Tabal shattered the course record while Eduardo “Vertek” Buenavista pocketed his fifth title at the 37th MILO Marathon National Finals Sunday morning (December 8) at the SM Mall of Asia grounds. The 24-year old Tabal breezed through the 42.195-kilometer route in 2:48:00, shaving 16 seconds off the old standard set by Jho-An Banayag in 2006.
For finishing as the top Filipinos, both Buenavista and Tabal will represent the Philippines in the 2014 Schneider Electric Marathon de Paris next April. Nestle Philippines will shoulder all their expenses.
The new MILO Queen dethroned defending back-to-back winner Mary Grace delos Santos, who could only check in at 2:54:27, much slower than her winning time last year of 2:49:29 where she threatened Banayag’s record. The 24-year old Tabal will receive a bonus of PHP 20,000.00 for breaking the record on top of her purse of PHP 250,000.00 as Second Placer in the Open Category.
Margaret Njuguna of Kenya collared the top prize of PHP 300,000.00 with a time of 2:42:18 while delos Santos settled for Third Place and collected PHP 200,000.00. Only Filipinos are eligible for the bonus for setting a new course record.
Team Kenya made it a sweep of all three podium positions in the Male Open Category with Joshphat Kiptanui Chobei (2:18:23) edging out last year’s Open champion James Tallam (2:18:41) and Alex Melley (2:22:30). The male and female Open winners received the same prizes.
Buenavista finished in fourth overall and topped the Local Category for the second straight year, earning PHP 150,000.00 and title of MILO King. Obviously hurting from his non-inclusion to the national team at this week’s Southeast Asian Games in Burma, the 35-year old South Cotabato native sent a strong message that he is far from washed up.
Rene Desuyo (2:32:32) wound up in Second Place followed by Irineo Raquin (2:32:57) in Third Place. Former champions Crescenciano Sabal (Sixth, 2:36:06) and Julius Sermona (Seventh, 2:36:54) also cracked the Top 10.
In the Female Local Category, four-time champion Cristabel Martes took top honors in 2:57:15, a bit slower than her event record of 2:53:58 set during her second title romp in 2000 but much faster than her winning times in 1999, 2001 and 2009. Luis Raterta (3:07:18) came in Second Place followed by top national duathlete Mirasol Abad (3:07:46).
The Kenyan domination continued in the Open 21 kilometers as Benjamin Kipkazi (1:07:35) and Irene Kipchumba (1:28:39) won convincingly. Immunel Camino (1:12:52) and Corazon Salcedo (1:41:02) emerged as the top Filipinos.
Ruel Suazo of Laguna State Polytechnic University (33:38) and Joan Jeruto (41:56) snared the 10-kilometer titles. Kimbert Sarmiento of Our Lady of Fatima University (16:06) and Mary Anne Perez (19:12) won the five kilometers while the three-kilometer kiddy race went to George Tan of East Rembo Elementary School (10:25) and Thalia Garcia of Saint Francis of Assisi College (11:57).
Aside from Tabal’s new course record, MILO Sports Executive Andrew Neri and Race Director Coach Rio dela Cruz happily announced that they are sure to improve on last season’s attendance record – initial tabulations show that almost 220,000 runners participated in this year’s 18 races as compared to the 214,448 in 2012. Sunday’s finale alone drew a crowd of 26,681 with 21,116 of those signing up for the five-kilometer fun run.
The record number of entries only means more funding for the MILO Marathon’s advocacy of providing athletic shoes to poor but deserving public school children. All throughout the year, MILO has distributed countless pairs in the 17 different cities that hosted a regional qualifying race.
Motivated by the chance to compete in an overseas race, expect Buenavista, Tabal and the rest of the Filipino running elites to work extra hard in the coming months to end the foreign dominance of the MILO Marathon, considered to be the most prestigious footrace in the country. For now, let the winners savor their victory until the 38th MILO Marathon commences its season.
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