Sgt Cresenciano Sabal of the Philippine Army beats Sgt Eduardo Buenavista of the Philippine Air Force in the Inaugural Clark Freeport International Marathon which was held yesterday, 13 January 2008.

But the presence of a Kenyan runner, Hillary Lagat, frustrated local runners from seeing a duel of the two best Filipino Marathoners at this time. Instead of Sabal and Buenavista racing towards the finish line, the race was between Lagat and Sabal up to the last two kilometers of the race. Lagat finished in 2:26:29 hours while Sabal placed second place with a difference of 19 seconds from Lagat at 2:26:48 hours.

My congratulations to Sgt Cresenciano Sabal!