Cedric Alcoriza sat under the cool shade of a tree at the sidelines of the 42nd Milo Marathon in Pasay.
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It was a welcome development for him as the hot sun beat down on the 28,000-strong participants of the country’s largest footrace event—a stark contrast only a few hours ago when monsoon rains poured at gun start of the 3k event he took part in.
Not bad for his first Milo Marathon experience, right?
But while he sat unassumingly in his spot situated quite a distance from the rumpus and festive awarding stage, he faintly hears the names of the 2018 Milo Marathon-Manila leg King and Queen announced.
“Balang araw sir, sana ako naman ‘yang nasa stage,” he said laughing, while his teammates teased him while being interviewed by Manila Standard.
Why couldn’t he? The 12-year-old kid already has what it takes to reach the top of a sport he only discovered a year ago.
In his first running competition outside of school meets, the Grade 7 student from Benjamin B. Esguerra Memorial National High School did not disappoint and led all 3k runners in just 11 minutes and 33 seconds.
Again, not bad for his maiden exposure in the “big league.”
There’s no magic involved here, though. The young runner from Taytay trains every day after class with the Team Taytay Builders, a ragtag stable supported by their local government composed mainly of worker’s children in the municipality.
“Wala nga po kami masyado practice bago po dito kase naulan at nagkasakit din po ako. Pero this week po kahit umuulan, tuloy pa rin kahit maputik doon sa pinag-papapractice-an namin,” said Alcoriza, who was still good enough to outpace second placer Reyniel Abel by 3 seconds.
And if the challenging weather, tough competition and inexperience in these kinds of races weren’t enough, Alcoriza also had to run tired as he and his team didn’t get enough shut eye before the event.
What little sleep they had was squeezed in between their two-hour trip from Taytay.
“Sobrang special po para sa akin itong Milo Marathon na ito, kasi first time ko po sumali, first time ko rin manalo, champion pa,” he said while his three other teammates also gained places in the 3k and 5k event.
“Pero maliban po sa medal, ang pinakamahalaga po ay may nakukuha ka pong life lessons pagkatapos ng Milo (marathon). Napatunayan ko po na napakahalaga ng disiplina at kumpiyansa sa sarili,” he said while preparing to leave though a little bit drowsy.
They’ll make most of the rest before they compete at an athletic meet later that day.
Like many champions before them, they just know that the secret to the zenith is to never get tired of training and competing.