Milo Run to tread North route

THIS year’s Milo Marathon Cebu Leg qualifiers on Oct. 7 at the Cebu City Sports Center will be northbound, veering from its usual route heading south to secure the safety of the huge crowd of runners.

Local organizer Ricky Ballesteros said it has been an overdue plan to change the route, but runners had always demanded for the old route because it passes through the South Road Properties, which offers a scenic view.

“We decided to go north instead of having it in South Expressway because it’s very difficult to regulate the open highway, which has buses passing by,” said Ballesteros.

In a meeting last Tuesday, which was attended by members of the organizing committee as well as the support groups from the police, City Traffic Operations Management officers, communicators and barangay officials, they discussed points on how to ensure the safety of runners on the road.

The new route will now take runners from CCSC to Osmeña Blvd. to Escario, going through Juan Luna, Talamban, Gorordo and Imus.

“I think this is safer and runners had been used to this kind of route. We don’t want to risk safety,” said Ballesteros.

Ballesteros will work on having the roads fully closed for the race to accommodate almost 20,000 target runners on race day.

As of now, there are already 16,000 registrants, with the bulk of it in the 5K category and the premier half marathon has 200 slots remaining. Registration cutoff will be on Sept. 30.

The run serves as qualifier for the 36th National Milo Marathon on Dec. 9 in Manila, which will also have for the first time a separate category for the Filipino elite runners.