Milo national footrace fires off tomorrow

MARY Grace delos Santos shoots for a second straight national crown while three-time winner Eduardo Buenavista will lead other former winners in trying to reclaim the men’s title for the country in the 36th Milo Marathon finals tomorrow.

Delos Santos, Buenavista and over 500 other finalists will compete for the P300,000 top prize in the race that will start and end at SM Mall of Asia grounds in Pasay.

Foreign and local runners may compete and win in the Open division while the Local category will give P150,000 to the winner.

The 25-year-old Delos Santos, who hails  from Zamboanga but has been based in Cebu for the past few years, beat two-time Jho-An Banayag and another Cebuana runner, Mary Joy Tabal, last year.

It was a shutout for Filipino runners in the male division, with James Tallam leading a 1-2-3-4 Kenyan finish.  Four other Africans made it to the top 10, with only  Jeson Agravante (fifth) and Irineo Raquin (sixth) carrying the fight for local bets.

Other former winners competing are Julius Sermona (2006), Cresenciano Sabal (2005, 2007, 2009), Cristabel Martes (1999-2001, 2009), Banayag (2005-2006) and Flordeliza Doños (2010).  Romina S. Austria