Cebuanos sweep ‘2012 I Shall Return 50K Ultra’

Local ultrarunning champion Noel Tillor and Cebu’s road running queen Mary Grace delos Santos topped the first “I Shall Return 50K Ultramarathon” in Tacloban, Leyte over the weekend.

Tillor finished the 50-KM route in a blistering 3 hours, 33 minutes and 44 seconds. Noel is known within Cebu’s ultramarathoning community as the “Hybrid Kenyan” runner. Tillor gives justice to this monicker by posting one of the fastest splits in an ultramarathon. At the “I Shall Return 50K Ultramarathon” Tillor crossed the 10K mark in 41:46; 20K in 1:23:32, 30K in 2:05:18 and 50K in 3:33:44.

Tillor also topped the Labor Day Cost to Coast Ultramarathon early this year running from Capitol in Cebu City to Toledo City, Cebu passing through the tough rolling terrain of the Transcentral Highway.

The other male podium winners were Jonahs Tan who clocked 4:29:00 and Allan Briso who crossed the finishline in 4:34:35.

In the distaff side, 2011 Milo Marathon Champion Mary Grace delos Santos crossed the finishline in 4 hours, 20 minutes and 10 seconds.  Delos Santos finished second over-all behind the male champion Noel Tillor.

The “I Shall Return 50K Ultramarathon” is delos Santos’ first foray in ultramarathoning. “First time to do an ultra & it was great. Was able to conquer the San Juanico Bridge. Thank you FrontRunner for the chance,” posted delos Santos in her Facebook page.

Reylynne dela Paz came second in 4:49:20 while trail running queen Merlita Dunkin came in third in 5:04:12.

In the relay category, Michael Largo and Adonis Singson posted 3:10:59; Alvirg Bursa and Mosherwin Managil clocked 3:17:12 while Guilbert Sedentario and Danilo Dumandan finished in 5:32:40 to win first, second, and third place respectively.

Next to the Mayon 360 50-miler, the “I Shall Return 50K Ultramarathon” organized by Frontrunner Magazine has one of the most generous prize purses in the ultramarathon circuit. Top finishers of the solo category received cash prizes at P25,000 each, 2nd placers got P10,000 each, while 3rd placers received P5,000 each. The relay teams also got P10,000, P6,000 and P4,000 for the 1st, 2nd and 3rd relay teams for a total cash prize of P120,000.

The race started at the Tacloban City Convention Center passing through famous sites in Tacloban and Palo, Leyte including the MacArthur Landing Memorial Park and the San Juanico Bridge — the country’s longest bridge and ending at the Tacloban City Amphitheater.

Long weekend means more runs

This coming weekend is another long weekend with August 27, 2012 earmarked as National Heroes Day. This means more time for training and racing on the road.

The races this weekend include:

Aug. 26, 2012 SMOKE-FREE RUN 2 21K

Aug. 26, 2012 ARMSCOR RUN 2  21K/10K/5K.

For more information regarding registration fees and race details, you may visit the registration site for these races at Runnr in Ayala Center Cebu.

Staying safe on the road

W hether you’re racing or just doing your long runs, try as much as possible to stay safe. Last weekend, triathletes Peter Gonzales and his wife Sandra were hit by a car driven by COMELEC lawyer Ferdinand Gujilde during the Timex Run.

Initial investigation on the incident indicate that Gujilde fell asleep while behind the wheel on his way home to Minglanilla, Cebu.

While runners have no control over reckless drivers, there are things that we can do to protect ourselves. As much as possible, run on the left side of the road facing oncoming traffic in order to give you chance to see any wayward vehicle coming your way. Leave the MP3’s and Ipod’s at home. Be sure to be alert while on the road even if you’re running early in the morning when there’s a lesser number of cars on the road.