Languido, Tabal rule in Cebu

CEBU CITY—Junel Languido and Mary Joy Tabal, who both came close to winning the Milo Marathon national title twice, get another crack this year after they topped yesterday’s 21-kilometer qualifying race that started infront of the Cebu Normal University on Osmena Boulevard here.

Languido broke away at the 10K mark en route to winning in one hour, 11 minutes and 56 seconds. Mohammad Sherwin Managil was second (1:14:49) and Bonifacio Monjas third (1:14:51).

Southwestern University’s Tabal, leading from start to finish, topped the distaff side in 1:26:58. She will be joined by runner-up Joeyre Lee (1:37:52) and two other female finishers in the national finals.

Third placer Madelyn Carter clocked 1:44:45 but was slower than the 1:40 qualifying time for her 18-34 age bracket.

Both Languido, a banana plantation worker in Bukidnon, and Tabal pocketed P10,000 while the second and third placers settled for P6,000 and P4,000, respectively.

A total of 50 runners qualified for the national finals of the 36th Milo Marathon, including Kenyan Abraham Missos, a regular campaigner in local races who actually submitted the fastest time of 1:11:50 or six seconds faster than Languido.

Rules state, however, that foreign runners may compete in the elimination races to gain finals slots but are disqualified from any podium finish.

A slight downpour at the 4:30 a.m. gunstart only spurred the 28-year-old Languido to increase his pace.

“I wasn’t sure if the weather would worsen,” Languido, the national finals runner-up in 2008 and third placer in 2009, said in Filipino. “I was determined to make the finals again.”

Languido admited it was easier in 2008 and 2009 when foreigners, specifically the Kenyans, were not competing against the Filipinos yet.

Tabal, coming off a runner-up finish in the previous weekend’s adidas King of the Road 16.8K race held in Taguig, is eyeing at least a runner-up finish in the Dec. 9 finals at SM Mall of Asia grounds in Pasay.

“I think I’ve had enough of two third-place trophies (in 2010 and 2011),” said the 23-year-old Tabal, who also ruled the Singapore Sundown half marathon race last May.

Kenyan James Tallam topped the men’s finals last year while female winner Mary Grace delos Santos, also from this city, automatically qualified for this year’s finals. The finals champions will get P300,000 while the local category winner will bag P150,000.

A total of 21,697 runners joined the races with University of Cebu winning two special prizes—Biggest Delegation and Fastest Delegation based on accumulated time of all its participants.

In the 10K race, Jordan Bacong topped the men’s division in 34:16 followed by Ronny Andrin (34:19) and Adonis Singson (34:36).

Beate Krecklow, a German who is here on a two-week vacation, was the female winner in 41:51, beating Aiza Suaybaguio (44:05) and Mary Jane Beboso (44:57).