Registration now open for 35th MILO marathon finals

Aspirants to the National MILO Marathon throne will have one last chance on Sunday to make the December finals when the country's longest running foot race holds its last 21K elimination leg in Davao City even as organizers opened the registration for the national finals.

Organizers placed the total number of registered runners at 12,450, including those in the 21K, 10K, 5K and 3K categories. Among the confirmed entries are last year's Davao leg winner Brian Lupio, 2010 National Finals fifth placer Anthony Nerza and Cynthia Jaro, who placed 7th in last year's finals.

The race will see tougher competition as marathoners from neighboring provinces of General Santos, Cebu and Cagayan de Oro converge in Davao to vie for the P10,000 pot for the grand winner and a slot in the National Finals.

Just like the previous legs, runners finishing within the cutoff times of 1:15:00 for male and 1:35:00 for female will earn all-expense paid trips to the Manila finals.

Race organizer Kenneth Sai expressed elation over the registration turnout, which has exceeded the
12,000 targeted runners. Sai adds the the Davao National MILO Marathon was endorsed by the local
government and will be supported by the Davao City Police Office and the Traffic Management Center.

Registration now open for Manila Finals

The National MILO Marathon now opens registration to the Finals on December 11 at the SM Mall of
Asia. Online registration for 3K, 5K, 10K and 21K is ongoing until Nov. 27 through www.runrio.com.
Runners can also register at Toby's, Runner, Planet Sports and Athletes' Foot branches until December
4. An empty pack of Milo 20g is required along with the various registration fees: P100 for 3K and 5K
and P500 for 10K and 21K. All runners will be provided with singlet and timing chips.

More than 400 of the country’s best runners will vie for the grand prize of P300,000 in the premiere
42.195K full marathon. The runner-up will settle for P150,000 while the third placer will take home
P75,000.

Three-time winner Eduardo Buenavista and Flordeliza Donos are the defending Marathon King and
Queen in the championship which will start at 4 a.m. and end at the SM Mall of Asia grounds in Pasay
City.

A special prize of P20,000 will be given to the runners who will break the 2:18:53 men's record of
Buenavista and 2:48:16 women's record of two-time champion Jho-An Banayag. P50,000 will also be
awarded to the first runner to break the 2:15:00 invisible time barrier.