Filipino Tops Palawan Express Marathon 2019

On Sunday, June 16, held was the annual Palawan Express Marathon with more than 1,600 runners from all over the Philippines and several marathon enthusiasts from other parts of the world. Similar to previous years, hundred one 42K runners began the marathon at 1:00 AM gun time, followed by 146 runners for the 21K category at 4:00 AM gun time. There are 140 runners who registered for the 10K run, while 472 in the 5K category and hefty 800 joiners for the 3K run.

For the very first time in the history of Palawan Express Marathon, a Filipino National named Azlan Pagay, 25, from Cebu City topped the 42 Kilometer run with an official time of 02:51:09, bagging the All Filipino and All Nations prize amounting to a total of Php 40,000.00. He was closely followed by Albert Omboga, 43, a Kenyan, with 02:52:07 time. Third on place was Welfred Esporma, 29, from Quezon City with 03:08:17 official time. He is the second Filipino to finish the run thus receiving two awards, third placer in the All Nations category and second placer in the All Filipino category.

After the run, participants gathered for an hour of Zumba session, raffle draw and awarding ceremony. Cash prizes and medals were given to the top three male and female finishers of 42K and 21K categories, while medals were awarded to the top three finishers of the 10K, 5K, and 3K runs. Special awards sponsored by Transfast were given to Ernesto Ledesma and to Vince Andrew Dela Cruz for being the oldest and youngest runner respectively. Bank of the Philippine Islands also awarded their BPI Moneyger Award to three lucky winners who registered on their booth.

Among the biggest delegations this year was from One Manalo Place, Philippine National Police- Maritime Group, City Government of Puerto Princesa, ALC Printing House, Palawan Runners Club, LandBank- Puerto Princesa Main branch and Palawan Provincial Capitol.

This year’s Palawan Express Marathon was made possible in partnership with the City government of Puerto Princesa, Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI), Ria Money Transfer, Trinity Insurance Brokers, Xpress Money, J6W (PLDT Home, Smart, Cignal), ALC Printing House, iRemit, Metrobrank, MoneyGram, LeadPack, Takbo.ph, Transfast, and UniTeller (uLink). Proceeds will fund environmental projects and advocacies of Palawan Pawnshop – Palawan Express Pera Padala.