Matanao: victories for Yoyong Sacayle and Cecille Wael
The 70km race at the second edition of Matanao Mountain Marathon was held in mostly sunny conditions and saw a first ever ATM race victory for Yoyong Sacayle and a second one for Cecille Wael. Both pre-race favouirites came out on top at the end, but had to fight for their wins. Matanao was the final Filipino points race in this season’s Asia Trail Master Championship.
The 23-year-old Isaiah Paraiso made an excellent debut on the scene, as he topped the leaderboard at many early checkpoints. Former Mt Apo race winner Ronnie Torlao was also very much in the mix in the early stages of the nighttime after the 9 pm start. But as sunrise approached, Yoyong Sacayle appeared first to win in 10h33, fifteen minutes ahead of Paraiso, who held onto a very promising second place. Angelo Maynard Encormal again managed to run a great second half to grab his third third place of the season, along with the important points that come with that. Maynard is looking good to join Yoyong, Arnie Macaneras (who was a DNS in Matanao), John Ray Onifa and Sean Aying (sixth this weekend) in the men’s Team Pilipinas. The sixth runner (Macaneras as defending ATM champion has scored a wild card) is still very much up for grabs in the remaining ATM points races in Thailand, Korea, Malaysia, Vietnam and India.
The early leaderboard of the women’s 70km race in Matanao, showed Cecille Wael only in sixth place. Shally Yuson, Julie Ann Morales and Manolyn Mamugay were setting the pace. Later it was discovered that Wael had gone significantly off course and thus had to play catch-up for a long time. Especially as Shally Yuson, another newbie from Bukidnon, turned out to be a serious opponent for the victory. Even Morales had to let Yuson go ahead. On the last of the main climbs, Wael returned and attacked, knowing the remaining downhill to the finish would suit her more than the young and inexperienced Yuson. Thanks to her first ATM victory since CMU last year, Wael moves up to third place in the ATM Philippines’ ranking. She could have been safe already for ATM Final qualification, but her VMM race last month proved to be an unexpected struggle. The five slots for the team will remain highly contested until at least Lam Dong Trail on 11 November. Only Roan Biguasen is already secure with four strong results during the season.
The women’s podium with Cecille Wael in the middle
Mindanao’s Yoyong Sacayle has assured himself of a spot on Team Pilipinas for the ATM Final with his debut race victory in ATM
After a disappointing VMM, Cecille Wael bounced back with a solid race win in Matanao
The men’s podium with Yoyong Sacayle on the far right