HOMETOWN bet Ronie Torlao pulled off a surprise when he ruled the men’s 100-kilometer event of the recently-concluded 3rd Mt. Apo Sky and Vertical Race set in Sta. Cruz, Davao del Sur.

Torlao checked in at 16 hours, two minutes and 47 seconds while Mark Bryan Grey of Quezon and Julito Albiso also of Sta. Cruz finished second and third, respectively. Grey timed 17:41:23 while Albiso registered 18:18:15.

In the distaff side, Melanie Hingpit of Surigao clocked 21:53:39 to emerge 100K champion even as Anne Maridol Rongavilla of Muntinlupa City and Cecille Cornesta Wael of Pasay City grabbed the next two spots.

Rongavilla broke the tape in 23:25:21 while Wael followed in 24:03:57.

Meanwhile, Jay Balani of Sta. Cruz, Davao del Sur raced past his rivals in men’s 50K event after he timed 5:40:30. Warren Ong of Digos City (6:32:40) placed second while Timeo Gut (6:58:20) of Luzern, Switzerland came third.

The women’s 50K title went to Paige Ann Madison of Tempe, Arizona, USA. She registered 8:04:57 followed by next two trail runners Irene Tan (9:12:53) of General Santos City and Darmilyn dela Cerna (10:28:32) of Davao City.

Race director Doi Calbes earlier said got a special permit from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) for the one-day event since there was a temporary closure of the trail at Mt. Apo, the country’s highest peak, starting April 1, 2019.

A total of 99 entries joined the 100K race while 56 in the 50K division of the annual event supported by the Department of Tourism (DOT)-Davao and Visit Davao Summer Festival (VDSF).

Participants came from Scotland, Canada, USA, United Kingdom, Malaysia, Mexico, Switzerland, Singapore, Russia, Japan, Australia, South Africa, Thailand, France, Indonesia, England and Philippines.