Great names at the Santa Ines Adventure Run

This weekend we have the first of two new ATM Candidate Races in the Rizal mountains east of Manila. The Santa Ines Mountain Adventure Run takes place in Tanay Rizal and has virtually no overlap with next month’s Sierra Madre Trail Ultra. This Saturday starting at 4 pm, runners will tackle 80 km or 30 km and it promises to be tough: the 80 km will not only be mainly a night race , there’s also 4300 metres of elevation gain to be conquered. No wonder some of the better known Filipino mountain trail runners feature on the Sta Ines start list. Among the contenders for the victory and the podium, perhaps Elmer Retolado is the top favourite. Retolado was the winner of Pilipinas Akyathlon 50k in 2019… but meanwhile that is indeed already three years ago. Noy Gentoleo will be a challenger for the win, and let’s not discount Grandmaster Aleksis Capili, arguably the most experienced in the men’s field when it comes to competitive ultra trail racing. But after such a long time without real races, who knows we get to see some real surprises.

In the women’s 80k field, Ces Wael is probably the top favourite for the race win. She has been very active over the past months and proper mountain trails suit her. It will be interesting to see if Sherlyn Fugaban can keep up with Ces Wael. Always podium candidates when it’s long and tough, Grandmaster Cheryl Bihag and Ann Jilian Pulanco will certainly be in the mix as well.

Stay tuned on our social media channels for updates from Santa Ines starting Saturday late afternoon!

Elmer Retolado won the 2019 points race Pilipinas Akyathlon. This Saturday, he’ll be at Santa Ines