MANILA, Philippines - Bernardo Desamito and steeplechase king Rene Herrera are expected to slug it out for twop honors in the 21st Yakult 10-Miler set Sunday at the Cultural Center Complex.
Desamito, who ruled the event in 2006, is expected to assert his supremacy over Hererra and upcoming medium distance athletes Darwin Lim, Ben Alejandrino and Roger Denolo.
In the distaff side, Ailene Tolentino is expected to prevail for the third time after dominating the event in 2007 with a time of 1:02:07 and in 2008 in 1:04:06.
At stake is P30,000 in cash prizes.
According to Michael Ong, Yakult Phils., Inc. manager for sales and planning, the male and female champions will each receive P7,000 plus trophy, the second placers P3,000 and third placers P2,000, fourth P1,000 and fifth P 500.
In the 5K and 3K age group division, the top three finishers will receive medals and Yakult gift packs.
All finishers will receive the Yakult finishers t-shirts. All participants have also been issued Yakult running singlets, to be worn on Sunday for their security and monitoring.A specially designed trophy awaits the biggest contingent which is a toss-up between the PNPA team with 70 entries and the Firefly team with 100 entries.
Organizers are advising all participants to be at the assembly area at Vicente Sotto St. not later than 5 a.m. for pre-race briefing and check in. The race will start promptly at 6 a.m. with the runners being flagged off by Akira Onose, Yakult Phils., Inc. executive vice president. He will also be assisted at the awarding ceremonies by other Yakult executives.
Assisting organizers in this Sunday’s run are the cities of Manila, Pasay and Parañaque, the MPD and SPD PNP TEG, the MMDA Pasay and Parañaque sectors, the Pasay City Parking and Traffic Management office, the CCP security department, medical staff of the PCSM, the Philippine National Red Cross and Spectrum communications.