Undaloc, Betonio dominate tough TransCebu ultra race

CEBU, Philippines – Virgilio Undaloc Jr., an Armyman from Toledo City, and Rose Betonio, a visiting ultra race from Surigao, lorded it over the 2015 TransCebu Ultramarathon, which gained distinction for having one of the toughest race courses in any ultramarathons here.

Participants of the grueling 105-kilometer race from Naga City Hall to Hilltop Hotel in Barangay Lahug dealt with a maximum elevation gain of 976 meters above sea level and a total ascent of approximately 2, 984 meters.

From Naga, the runners proceeded to Toledo, then right turn at the Toledo-Tabuelan-San Remigio road. Once they reached Balamban, the entries will turn right at the junction of Cebu Transcentral Highway.

At kilometer 63, the runners will head towards the crash site of the late President Ramon Magsaysay in Mt. Manunggal where they will run a 10K loop and then exit back to the Transcentral Highway before finishing at the Hilltop.

When the dust settled, the 30-year-old Undaloc crossed the finish line first with a time of 12 hours, 18 minutes and 32 seconds, interestingly ahead by just one second against Rodrigo Busala, who clocked in 12:18:33.

Ong Soon Seng came out a distant third in 12:48:07, while Richard Quimque and Paul Drossou landed fourth and fifth with a time of 14:51:10 and 15:09:18, respectively.

The sixth to 10th placers in the men's open division were Dylan Marshall (15:37:14), David Wong (15:37:52), Adones Baterna (15:40:25), Erwin Alea (15:41:28) and John Villanueva (15:41:33).

In the women's open, the 32-year-old Betonio, who raced without a support crew, was crowned as champion. She finished 15th overall out of 134 entries with a time of 15:58:12.

Betonio was way ahead of her closest pursuer in Wai Teng Lew, who ended her bid in 17:13:27 as Rusinah Soligi wound up third in 18:04:31.

Completing the top 10 cast were Cherry Rose Otero (18:14:34), Linda Poong (18:23:05), Yi Lian Pang (18:39:06), Irene Oliveros (19:26:30.43), Kathryn Kuan (21:03:52), Karin Holzschuher (21:19:53), andMila Algabre with 22:25:38.

Aside from the 105K, the organizers also added a 55K race upon the request of a bunch of other runners.

Foreign entry Dylan Netter took the top honors with a time of 6:43:10 followed by Jayrald Salazar (6:50:15) and Matthew Tiscornia (7:10:12). The top three in distaff side were Arlen Pepito (9:38:01), Millanie Capule (11:35:42), and Alice Danny (11:50:57). (FREEMAN)