BE-MEDALED Sonny Wagdos of University of Mindanao defended his title in the just-concluded 40th National Marathon held Sunday in an out-and-back course from SM Lanang Premier Parking Lot.
Wagdos timed a total of one hour, sixteen minutes and 11 seconds to remain the 21-kilometer title holder.
He race past Michale Jan Echalico (1:17:27) and Arlan Arbois (1:19:37) who finished second and third, respectively.
Though Wagdos defended his title for the third time, he did not qualify for the nationals since the qualifying time needs to be 1:15.
"I did not qualify because they added another 200 meters to the route and besides, the road was slippery because of the rain," Wagdos said in vernacular during an interview with SunStar Davao.
He also said that he was sidelined for about one month due to his injury.
"Even if I qualified, I still won't compete in the nationals as the doctor said I needed to rest my feet," the multi-title runner said.
In the distaff side, Mae Barit checked in at 1:51:41 to clinch the women's title over Madelyn Carter (1:53:11) and Olive Firmeza (1:54:54) who placed second and third, respectively.
Agustin Ychon ruled the men's 10k event after checking in at 35:22 outracing Joerge Andrade (35:22) and Jorge Esquirida (37:22) who settled for the runner up honors.
Diana Memoracion, for her part, annexed the women's title over Kim Glydell Barot (51:20) and Jeralden Madayam (51:33) who occupied the next two places.
Daryl Mark Daban (17:07) topped the men's 5k while Andrea Annabela Deguia (21:15) governed the women's event.
In other events, University of Southeastern Philippines clinched the college cheerdance title, as University of Immaculate Concepcion got the high school title while Manuel L. Quezon Central Elementary School emerged champion in the elementary cheerdance competition.
The biggest company delegation was Sargex Corporation with a total of 16 finishers.