35th Milo Marathon Cebu leg blasts off

MARY Joy Tabal and Adonis Singson return to defend their titles as they compete in today’s 35th National Milo Marathon-Cebu Leg starting in front of the Cebu Normal University (CNU) along Osmeña Boulevard.

Tabal and Singson lead more than  20,000 participants in today’s race, which starts at 5 a.m. This will be the 12th of the 18 total provincial stages of the Milo Marathon.

Qualifiers here will advance to the National Finals slated Dec. 11 in Manila. Qualifying time for the 21k race is 1 hour and 15 minutes for the male category and 1 hour and 35 minutes for the female category.

Last year, Tabal qualified and managed to finish third in the 42k run of the Nationals.

But Tabal is quite worried about her performance as she just ran a 21k event last weekend, which is not advisable for runners. But she said she will still try to bag the victory.

“I might be drained and exhausted,” she said.  “But I believe in myself. It’s not just about winning, I am also targeting to improve my 21k personal record of 1 hour and 28 minutes.”

Singson, a former balut vendor, will defend his men’s crown against some of the best runners in the region.

Today’s race will  be handled by known runner and organizer Rio dela Cruz of RUNRIO Inc.

Dela Cruz said he will try his ideas on how to  stage a perfect race. In fact, he will veer away from the traditional releasing of participants from the starting line. He will instead be releasing them in separate waves to avoid congestion at the starting line.

Co-organizer Ricky Ballesteros, meanwhile, said he expects a smooth flow in the race route after hiring a lot of marshals to watch over the runners along the route.

“We will deploy around 800 marshals and officers along the race route for the safety of the runners,” said Ballesteros.

Aside from the 21k race, there will also be a 3k, 5k and 10k distance.

Proceeds of the race will help give running shoes to five chosen public schools in Cebu City. This is part of Nestle’s thrust to give young Filipino athletes a running shoe. They are actually aiming to give away 10,000 running shoes to chosen public schools nationwide. /CORRESPONDENT DALE G. ROSAL