CebuRunning
On the run in the beautiful island
Chicharon vendor tops Cebu leg of 34th Milo Marathon
Sep 6th
A runner who sells chicharon or pork cracklings for a living topped the 21K men’s division in Sunday’s Cebu leg of the 34th Milo Marathon.
Adonis Singson set aside his chicharon to race on Sunday. He finished the tough 21K route that passed the South Road Properties (SRP) at a time when the sun was already high up the sky. Adonis claimed the top spot, which carried a P10,000 top prize and an all-expenses paid trip to the Milo Marathon National Finals in Manila on Dec. 12. Singson, 27, finished third last year and placed second in 2006 and 2007.
BIGGEST MILO PROVINCIAL LEG. With close to 23,000 runners joining, the Cebu leg of the 34th Milo Marathon is the biggest edition of the race outside Manila. CLICK ON PHOTO TO ENLARGE. (CONTRIBUTED PHOTO) He told Milo that he decided to go for the top spot after learning that defending champion Mendel Lopez wasn’t joining. Lopez got busy preparing for the geodetic engineering board examination, which he recently passed.
Jobert Carolino finished in second place with a time of 1:15:39 while Mohsherwin Managil won third place with a time of 1:17:10.
Completing the top 10 are 4.) Noel Tillor; 5.) Dandy Maturan; 6.) Ian Refuela ; 7.) Harold Estrada; 8.) Noy Jopson; 9.) Paul James Zafico and 10.) Renz Ericson Gabuya .
Biggest provincial Milo running event to fire off on Sunday
Sep 3rd
The 34th Milo Marathon Cebu eliminations will fire off on Sunday with an expected 23,000 runners in 3K, 5K, 10K and 21K. The event in Cebu, which will start on Osmeña Blvd. near Cebu Normal University and end inside the Cebu City Sports Center is the second biggest leg of the Milo Marathon eliminations following Metro Manila.
MILO SHOE. Milo officials with a sample of the Milo running shoes they are giving away to children as part of the company’s advocacy. (PHOTOGRAPHED BY MARLEN LIMPAG)Milo sports executive Andrew Neri said that for this year’s Cebu elimination, they implemented several innovations for a local Milo run including the 1.) use of a timing system for 10K and 21K, 2.) production of better race singlets using fabric imported from Thailand, 3.) giving of finishers’ medals and 4.) designation of different qualifying times for various age groups.
Neri said that those who complete the 21K run within the cut-off time of 2 hours and 30 minutes will get finishers’ medals. He said a bus will be designated as sweeper to transport those who can’t make it within the cut-off time and are deemed unable to finish by race marshals.
Milo officials said the decision whether to pick a runner up will be made on a “case-to-case basis.”
Mantra
Sep 1st
Enlightenment came on kilometer 38 of my spur-of-the-morning full marathon, past the smiling and cigarette-smoking pair of a twenty-something prostitute with a makeup made garish by the harsh late-morning light and her 40ish client waiting for a cab outside a North Reclamation Area motel.
At that point in my unplanned 42-kilometer run last March 2, I fully understood, “Free your mind and your feet will follow.”
I haven’t read Kevin Nelson’s The Runner’s Book of Daily Inspiration, where the quotation comes from, but I kept repeating that phrase on that day, when, after leaving my house in Lapu-Lapu City for a scheduled 21K run on my way to the Sun.Star office, I decided to complete a full marathon.
It was excruciatingly hot and there were instances on the way to Lilo-an when the thought of just turning back and not completing the run occurred to me.
But I kept mumbling my mantra.
MANTRAS, according to Runner’s World, help runners “stay focused and centered.” (CREATIVE COMMONS PHOTO BY PACO FLORES)
Not a buffet ticket
Aug 25th
ULTRA-RUNNER Brod. Carlo Bacalla brought me to my senses. He expressed puzzlement when we met—of all places at a fastfood line—why I gained weight since the last time we saw each other despite my increasing mileage.
BREAKDOWN. In a moment of weakness, I succumb to temptation.“Ikaw ra man ang akong nahibaw-an nga runner nga nanambok (you’re the only runner I know who has become fat),” he said as I quickly decided, on the very spot, against ordering a double cheeseburger with extra-large fries.
That honest appraisal gave me the impetus to face something that I had been putting off from confronting for a long time: a creeping weight gain caused by a sense of entitlement to gorge on food just because I regularly run.
It’s true that by exercising, you are entitled to eat a little bit more. But like many runners, however, I thought I was entitled to the equivalent of a daily buffet. It is, as Time described it in an article I did not want to read, “ravenous compensatory eating.”
Aboitiz Race to Reduce Challenge 2010 times now out
Aug 23rd
The Aboitiz Race to Reduce Challenge finish times have now been released. The event is unique in the Philippines because it is the first time that race organizers printed in a newspaper all the names of runners and their finish times.
The use of timing chips allowed organizers to quickly compile the results of 10K and 21K runners and publish it in Sun.Star Cebu. In the 5K and 3K categories, only the names are published.
What do the different columns mean?
1.) Finish time is the total time it took you to cross the finish line since gunstart. If you are at the back, your finish time will be some seconds longer than your chip time or official time.
2.) Chip time is your official time. It is the time it took you to complete the race from the time you stepped on the mat to the time you crossed the finish line.
3.) 5KM and 10KM columns. These are the times it took you to reach these turning points.
If you have comments or corrections, leave them as comments to this post and we will contact the organizers in your behalf.
Bontol, Igaña top University Run doctors’ category
Aug 18th
Doctors Raymund Reel Bontol and Humility Igaña topped last Sunday’s medical category in the well-attended 5th University Run at the Cebu Doctors’ University at the North Reclamation Area. Bontol, who is part of the Cebu-based Team Reborn competing in Sunday’s CamSur Ironman 70.3, and Igaña are both members of the Ungo Runners, a group of running enthusiasts that run every Friday night.
DOC MITTY. Humility Igaña won last Sunday’s medical women’s category in the 5th University Run. CLICK ON PHOTO TO ENLARGE. (PHOTO BY RAMIE IGAÑA)Bontol set a new personal record in topping the 10K Medical Men’s category, finishing the race in 42:38. At 2nd place was Dr. Harem Dieparine with a time of 45:30 while Dr. Mark Anthony Longinas finished 3rd with a time of 49:43. Rounding up the top 10 are: 4th Jo Banjo (50:47); 5th Renald Ramiro (58:24); 6th Ryan Jubal (1:02:33); 7th Andrei Yu (1:02:22); 8th Questor Nodalo (1:05:04); 9th Philip Larrazabal (1:06:21); and 10th Paul Go (1:11:17).
Igaña, meanwhile, topped the field of women doctors by finishing her 10K race in 1:01:31. Roslyn Yu was 2nd with a time of 1:02:23; Loy Tan was 3rd with a time of 1:06:20, Catherine Ti was 4th with a time of 1:07:27, while Ma. Victoria Larrazabal was 5th with a time of 1:13:10.
The Men’s 10K was dominated, as expected, by Kenyan Simon Losiaboi who breezed through the route in 32:16. He was followed by Arnold Unabia at 2nd place who finished in 33:13 and Alvirg Busa at 3rd who finished in 33:56.
In the Women’s 10K, Madelyn Carter topped the race by finishing the distance in 39:45. Jojielyn Pepito was 2nd with a time of 40:33 while Aiza Suaybaguio was 3rd with a time of 42:01. Rounding up the top 10 are 4th Lohriz Echavez (43:01); 5th Rosas Emily (49:39); 6th Melinda Ponce (50:48); 7th Angel Olis (50:56); 8th Donna Cruz (50:07); 9th Jane Ong (51:26) and 10th Florence Mata (51:29).
Doc Reel takes on CamSur
Aug 18th
“Lord, padagana lang gyud ko (just let me run),” is Dr. Raymund Reel Bontol‘s prayer while on the bike during triathlons.
On Sunday, Bontol, with the rest of the Cebu-based Team Reborn, will join the CamSur Ironman 70.3 hoping to finish strong in a three-discipline event that ends with running, which he describes as his “comfort zone.”
DOC REEL during the Fair Trade run. The Cebu-based doctor is scheduled to compete in the CamSur Ironman 70.3 on Sunday.Coming from hearing mass in Sto. Rosario Parish while wearing the hot pink Ungo shirt, the running shirt of a group of Cebu-based night runners, a Phiten necklace and a Power Balance bracelet, Bontol said in an interview that he’s ready to do anything he thinks can help his first Ironman event.
Preparing for the event has consumed Bontol’s life these past months. He has decided to postpone an important exam for his specialization next year because he thinks he isn’t prepared for it.
“I don’t want to go into something unprepared,” he said. A confessed obsessive-compulsive, Bontol says he could hardly sleep the night before important races, getting out of bed repeatedly to make sure everything he needs the next day—shoes, shirt, race bibs, timing chip, energy gels, cap, eyewear—are ready and in order.
On Sunday, Bontol hopes to swim 1.93 kms., bike 90 kms., and run 21 kms. in less than six hours and with enough energy left to take a phone call. He said Sunday will be the “graduation” of months of triathlon training under an elite athlete, Noy Jopson, last year’s Philippine 70.3 Ironman champion.
Bro. Carlo Bacalla: Running as meditation
Aug 13th
NOT only does running keep Bro. Carlo Bacalla physically fit and sound, it also offers him time for long reflections and meditation.
Running, especially among beautiful locales, are “moments to connect with Mother Nature and my Creator,” the Don Bosco brother told runners in Sun.Star Cebu last week.
A PHOTO FOR FACEBOOK. Bro. Carlo Bacalla before running the 102-kilometer Bataan Death March in 14 hours and 38 minutes to finish 17th.“Running gives me a clear picture of the social conditions of our cities. When I see people sleeping on our sidewalks, when I see children scavenging for food in garbage bins, when I see young girls on skimpy clothes by the roadside, lots of questions come to my mind,” Bacalla said.
While it pains him to see all these, Bacalla said it also reminds him of his mission as a brother and that there are still “so many people to help.”
He said running gives him ample time to think and view things with new perspectives.
Bacalla said his first race was a 10K in 1986 as a “freedom run” with Edsa hero and former president Fidel Ramos. His first marathon was the real Pilipinas International Marathon, a 42-kilometer race that he completed with permission and condition from his superior because he was still in the seminary.
Registration for 1st Cebu UItramarathon 50K to open during Aug. 20 ungo run
Aug 6th
Frontrunner publisher and ultra-marathoner Jonel Mendoza will open the registration for the 1st Cebu Ultramarathon 50K on Nov. 27 before his talk during the Ungo Friday Night Run on Aug. 20. The ultramarathon is limited only to 100 runners.
Mendoza will be in Cebu on Aug. 20 to promote the 50-kilometer run from Mt. Manunggal in Balamban town to the Capitol in Cebu City.
At 11 a.m., he will be interviewed live over radio station y101. Y101 president Jack Jakosalem said they will be accepting questions from listeners during the interview. Those outside Cebu can listen to the interview at the Y101 website.
TEASER IMAGE. The teaser image of the first ultramarathon in Cebu.
Endurance sports mold character: Basti Lacson
Aug 4th
Endurance sports mold character, Aboitiz Equity Ventures chief reputation officer Sebastian “Basti” Lacson told runners gathered in the Sun.Star Cebu central newsroom last Friday.
“I think endurance sports are formers of character. You go on even if your body tells you to stop. You wake up at 4 in the morning even if your body tells you to sleep,” said Lacson.
BASTI LACSON. The Aboitiz Equity Ventures Inc. chief reputations officer gets his exclusive ungo shirt with glow-in-the-dark paint from Michelle So, Sun.Star Cebu executive editor, Sun.Star Superbalita editor-in-chief and Sun.Star Running Club muse. Click on photo to enlarge. (SUN.STAR FOTO ALEX BADAYOS USED WITH PERMISSION)Endurance is something Lacson has plenty of. While finishing his master’s degree in Spain, he finished the Barcelona marathon in 1995 in three hours and 56 minutes. He finished “a couple” of half-marathons after it.
He insists that he not be called a triathlete because he was “only able to finish a couple of triathlons.”
But on Oct. 6, 1996, he crossed the Strait of Gibraltar with two companions, Spaniards Gonzalo Ceballos and Pedro Vernis, by swimming for five hours and 19 minutes from the town of Tarifa in Cadiz, Spain to Punta Marroqui, Morocco.
“It was a great experience. I was scared of the water and I conquered my physical and mental handicap,” he said.
Lacson, a former team captain of the Ateneo Blue Eagles who played with Vince Hizon and Eric Reyes, said he has always been into sports.
