TWENTY-FOUR thousand runners will hit the roads of Cebu City in the 42nd Milo Marathon Regional Leg on Sunday, Sept. 29, 2019, making it the third-largest edition in recent memory.
The event, which features the 21-kilometer, 10K, 5K and 3K categories, fires off in front of the Cebu Normal University and will end with two finish lines inside the Cebu City Sports Center.
“This edition is the third-largest in terms of number of participants since I came in as the local race organizer for the Milo Marathon,” said Ricky Ballesteros during a press conference at the Cebu Grand Hotel.
The most attended race handled by Ballesteros happened 17 years ago with 27,000 participants.
“When I came in 2002, we had about 27,000 participants. The starting line back then was at the Cebu Business Park. There were still no buildings at the time,” said Ballesteros, a many-time awardee as the best Milo Marathon organizer. “The next year (2003) we had 25,000 runners and that was the second-largest since I took over.”
This year’s turnout turned out to be a surprise.
“We opened 15,000 slots; it was sold out. We stretched it to 18,000. We are at 24,000 today (Friday),” said Ballesteros.
The 24,000 registered participants in Cebu is the second highest in this year’s marathon, next to the 30,000 runners in the Manila Leg.
The Milo Marathon has 10 legs this year: Urdaneta City, Manila, Subic, Lucena City, Batangas City, Cebu City, Iloilo City, General Santos City, Davao City and Cagayan de Oro City.
The national finals, which have always been held in December, will be moved to Jan. 19, 2020 to give way to the country’s hosting of the 30th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games on Nov. 30 to Dec. 11.
“The theme for this year is “One Team. One Nation. Go Philippines.” This is to show our support to the national athletes who will be competing in the SEA Games,” said Nestle Philippines sports executive Lester Castillo.
Cebuana marathoner Mary Joy Tabal, who is one of the products of the Milo Marathon, will be competing in the SEA Games.
“Everything about the race, has a nationalistic feel. The singlet, finishers’ shirt and medal all have the elements or colors of our national flag,” added Castillo.
Some roads that will be part of the run will be closed to motorists on Sunday from 3 a.m. to 7 a.m. Road closure advisories have been released in media outlets and social media days before the race.
“The race will finish at around 7 a.m. but the activities inside the sports center will still continue,” said Ballesteros.
To avoid congestion, there will be two finish lines—one for the 21K and 10K categories and the other for the short distance 5K and 3K categories. (RSC)