Delos Santos conquers Lucena

TWO-TIME champion Mary Grace Delos Santos marched anew to the national finals after ruling the 21-kilometer female category of the 39th National Milo Marathon qualifier in Lucena on Sunday.

Delos Santos, a member of the Philippine Air Force, bested her rivals with a time of 1 hour, 25 minutes and 19 seconds. Janice Tawagin (1:38:56) settled for second place while Jeanyrose Hari (1:47:39) was third.

In the male division, Ruel Suazo took the top spot in 1:13:23, followed by Alley Quisay (1:15:49) and Nimrod Cesar (1:19:26)

Suazon, a Milo marathon regular, was last year’s third placer in the National Finals.

Both Delos Santos, the 2011 and 2012 winner, and Suazo secured slots to the December national finals in Angeles City, where P300,000 and all-expense paid trips to the 2016 Boston Marathon await the winner.

“I was in the lead since the gun start,” the 28-year-old Delos Santos said. “I kept pace with the male runners.”

Delos Santos said she and coach Roy Vence will now train doubly hard for the finals.

“Hopefully, I will be free from injuries until the race day,” she said.

The 23-year-old Suazo, on the other hand, did not expect to win after sustaining an injury last month.
“I had minimal training because of my foot injury,” Suazon said.