Gonzales wins on Apo as Capili claims his 2nd Grandmaster Star
Aleksis Capili
The race to the summit of the highest mountain in the Philippines lived up to its reputation. The Mount Apo Sky Race on Mindanao Island was hailed as a tough and technical 70 km course, and the winning time of seasoned trail runner Pablo Diago Gonzales sums it up nicely: 12 hours and 6 minutes. The 35-year-old Spaniard, who lives in Singapore, was even an hour and 40 seconds faster than the second man on the podium, local runner Rexel Aguirre. Gonzales hereby scored the maximum of 500 points in his second ATM points race of the season after being 4th at Sungai Menyala Forest Trail in Malaysia a few weeks ago. He's now 7th in the current ATM Championship ranking with 900 points in his bag, and Gonzales is aiming for more. As the season moves on, he could indeed become a dangerman for this year's Asia Trail Master championship crown.
Another protagonist in Davao last weekend, in more than one way again, was Aleksis Capili. Born in the Philippines, but living in Bangkok, he scored his second Grandmaster star by finishing Mount APo, his tenth ATM Grandmaster distance race in his career! Capili is undoubtedly the epitome of endurance runners. And not only does he continue to show grit and perseverance, he is also running faster and faster. Last Sunday, the 39-year-old Capili crossed the finish line in third place in 14:46 and therefore claimed the final step on the podium. That means an additional 425 championship points in his bag as well, which propels Capili up to 3rd place with 1155 points, ten more than Yim Heng Fatt.
The women's race on Apo was decided in favour of Manilyn Mamugay (time 17:26), who was roughly two-and-a-half an hours faster than Mary Kristines Hernandez (19:54). Daisy Linas scored third place. For Mamugay it was the second career ATM race win, after also grabbing The Punisher 50 miles last December.
Pablo Gonzales and organiser Doi Calbes
The men's top 3 of the Mt Apo Sky Race
Aleksis Capili now is also the first trail runner to have scored this shield