Milo marathon NCR leg has new route

Starting this year, the stretch of Roxas Boulevard from Manila to Parañaque will no longer be used for the National Capital Region (NCR) leg of the National Milo Marathon.

Race organizers said the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) has prohibited all races from being held at the 7.6-kilometer thoroughfare which, until last year, was part of the race route of the NCR qualifier that had runners going up the Gil Puyat and Edsa flyovers back and forth.

“We would instead utilize Macapagal Avenue because of the MMDA ruling,” said Andrew Neri of RunRio Inc., the organizer of the July 29 NCR leg, during Thursday’s 42nd season launch at Conrad Manila Hotel in Pasay.

This year’s series kicks off in Urdaneta, Pangasinan, on July 15, followed by the NCR leg, Tarlac (Aug. 26), Batangas (Sept. 16), Lucena (Sept. 30), Iloilo (Oct. 7), Cebu (Oct. 14), Gen. Santos City (Oct. 21), Butuan (Nov. 11), Cagayan de Oro (Nov. 18) and the National Finals in Laoag, Ilocos Norte, on Dec. 9.

All qualifiers, except the NCR run, are 21-kilometer races.

There will also be 3K, 5K and 10K races, and, as in the previous years, Milo will donate running shoes to public schools in every province where races are held. Starting this year, basketballs will also be given away.

“We want children to have more opportunity to get into sports,” said Milo Sports’ Lester Castillo. “Our advocacy is to encourage more kids to lead an active and healthy lifestyle.”

Last year, a grieving Mary Joy Tabal captured a record fifth straight Milo Marathon title in her hometown Cebu with a time of two hours, 58 minutes and 1 second.

The 28-year-old Tabal, the country’s bet in the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, almost pulled out last year after her father passed away the day before the Finals.