What keeps people coming back to the Milo Marathon? Aside from the fact that it’s an institution in the running community, Milo still is the most prestigious marathon in the country, whose top Filipino winners are crowned the Milo Marathon King and Queen.
Now, after many years of sending champions to races around the world, Milo has returned to its roots and will be giving its King and Queen a chance to race the Boston Marathon!
The Boston Marathon is one of the six World Marathon Majors and the world’s oldest marathon. Milo Sports Marketing Manager Andrew Neri says, “The Boston Marathon is considered as the Mecca of all races, where the best of the best runners compete. We at Milo believe that our Filipino runners have what it takes to go head-to-head with the world’s finest athletes. It will surely be a challenging yet fulfilling experience for our 2015 Milo Marathon King and Queen as they represent our country with pride in the Boston Marathon.”
Given the times recorded by previous Marathon Kings and Queens, this country’s elites can record times that will qualify them for the Boston Marathon. Milo is also one of the races worldwide where your recorded time can be submitted for Boston Marathon qualifying.
Mary Joy Tabal, most recently a silver medalist at the SEA Games, is the back-to-back Milo Marathon Queen and one of the athletes that the Milo Marathon has become a platform for excellence. She along with the rest of the country’s elite runners will compete for the chance to represent the country. Aside from this, local runners who finish among the top winners of the open category will also win the prize for the local category corresponding to their respective ranks. So if a Filipino runner comes in 3rd in the open category and is the first Filipino across the line, they will win both the open category’s 3rd place prize money as well as the local category’s 1st place prize.
The Milo Marathon continues its Help Give Shoes advocacy started five years ago and has already given 50,000 young athletes new running shoes. This year, 10,000 deserving public school students will benefit from the advocacy.
Runners will have the chance to run the provincial races and the Metro Manila elimination race. The Marathon finals will be held on December 6 in a new venue: Clark, Angeles City, Pampanga. Coach Rio dela Cruz, the race director, says, “With these routes, runners will be able to get a chance to enjoy being away from the hustle and bustle of Metro Manila, with less traffic and pollution. We believe our runners will appreciate this.”
Andrew and Coach Rio also discussed the possibility of rotating the finals venue among major cities in the country in the future.
- June 28: Dagupan
- July 5: Baguio
- July 12: Tarlac
- July 19: Bataan
- July 26: Metro Manila
- August 2: Calapan
- August 9: Lipa
- August 16: Naga
- August 30: Lucena
- September 20: Iloilo
- September 27: Bacolod
- October 4: Tagbilaran
- October 11: Cebu
- October 18: Gen. Santos
- November 8: Davao
- November 15: Butuan
- November 22: Cagayan de Oro
- December 6: Angeles (Finals)
I highly encourage runners to challenge themselves by signing up for and preparing for the Milo Marathon. There’s nothing quite like the feeling of running fast enough to come in under the qualifying times and have a chance to run the country’s most exclusive marathon. Only a select few each year get to run the marathon final. Will you be one of them this year?
