Sea of green envelops Cebu City streets today

Footraces have been sprouting like mushrooms. The sport has been so popular that runners traversing the major thoroughfares have become a common sight in Cebu City on weekends.

But it is only once a year that one gets to see a sea of green enveloping the bustling downtown area.

Welcome to the Cebu leg of the 36th Milo Marathon.

A record-breaking 21,697 running enthusiasts will answer today’s starting gun for the biggest and grandest regional leg of the Milo Marathon.

The race will start at Osmeña Boulevard in front of the Cebu Normal University and will end inside the Cebu City Sports Center (CCSC).

“The Cebu leg is unique from other qualifying legs of the Milo Marathon. Unique in a sense that it consistently attracts several thousands of runners and  it is very organized. The execution of the race is very smooth,” said Milo consultant Pat Goc-ong.

A whopping 18,859 running enthusiasts have signed up for the 5k race, 1,217 for the 10k division, 1,141 for the 3k category while the tough 21k race attracted 480 runners.

Ricky Ballesteros, chief local organizer, said this year’s race has the largest turnout, easily breaking last year’s record of 19,040.

“Aside from Manila, Cebu is the biggest qualifying leg. It is only in Cebu leg that we can increase the number of participants. We can’t increase in other cities because they don’t have a Ricky Ballesteros as organizer,” said Milo Sports Executive Andrew Neri.

Personnel from the Cebu City Police Office, Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, Emergency Rescue Unit Foundation,  Cebu City Traffic Operations Management and other support groups were tapped to ensure that everything will be in order despite the large number of participants, said Ballesteros.

Huge cash prizes await the top finishers.

More than the cash prize, elite runners in the 21k division try to outdo each other to qualify for the 42k national finals slated Dec. 9 in Manila.

Male runners can qualify to the national finals if it can finish within the cut-off time of 2 hours and 15 minutes. A cut-off time of 2:30 was set for the female runners.

“We set cut-off times so that the runners will really train hard. They have to train hard so that they will be tear-eyed when they reach the finish line,” said Neri.

The 21k battle will be an all-local show. Foreigners were allowed to join but their participation will have no bearing in the result.

“There is no discrimination here. We only want that all regions will be represented by their very own,” said Neri.

Foreign runners can join in the shorter distances and win as long as they can present working visas.

Ethiopian runners dominated last year’s 21k race with Mikael Tesfaye Kahsay winning the men’s division and Genet Agtew topping the women’s division.

An all-expense paid trip to Manila awaits the national qualifiers.

Accurate results are guaranteed since V-Tag timing chips will be used in the race, said Angelo Yaezz of RunRio. The same device was used in the prestigious New York Marathon.