Local talent Elmer Retolado repeated last year’s victory at the Santa Ines Mountain Adventure Run in Philippines, and did so in a significantly faster time: 13h17, or one and a half hour quicker than twelve months ago. Retolado had some strong competitors to deal with on the 80k main race in Yojong Sacayle and Maynard Encormal to begin with. Mindanao’s Sacayle put the pressure on shortly after the start and came first at AS2, which was km 17. Conditions for trail running were good, which was a relief for many as Santa Ines is quickly establishing a reputation for being a very tough and technical race. No fewer than 36 separate river crossings need to be negotiated. These are mostly shallow but break a runner’s rhythm nonetheless. Retolado accelerated towards the end and opened up a substantial gap to Yojong Sacayle, who came into the finish in 2nd place in 14h07. Maynard Encormal was third, some 50 minutes later. JC Murillo, Bali-based German Thimo Kilberth and Sean Aying came next in the men’s race.

However, newbie Elisabeth Dangadan from Baguio caused a bit of a sensation by finishing 4th place overall to win the women’s competition! In a time of 16h02 approximately, a big victory ahead of Angelie Cabalo and Cecille Wael, which promises a lot for months to come. Cabalo was 7th overall and nearly an hour ahead of Wael, which was also about the gap at MMTF 100 a few months ago. Wael, on the other hand, was clearly faster than Cabalo on the 50k of CMU. Kimberly Gaela was a solid fourth in the women’s competition, and managed to stay ahead of Irish Glorioso, who still had sour legs after winning V Trail in Laos just a week ago. Still, Glorioso already banked a nice bag of ATM Championship points and we’re only mid-February!

The next Filipino points race is Sierra Madre Trail and takes place on 13 May and is also in the Rizal Mountain area, albeit on a totally different course of 75 km.

Retolado and Dangadan win at Santa Ines