CESAR Castañeto successfully defended his title in the first leg of the 40th National Milo Marathon Dagupan Qualifying Leg in Dagupan City, North Luzon yesterday.
Some 9,300 runners joined the first of the 14 legs that will be held nationwide.
Castañeto finished the 21-kilometer race in 01:11:23. Lany Cardona ruled the distaff side at 1:31.48. The two winners each took home P10,000 and qualified to the National Finals slated on December in Iloilo City.
The next qualifying leg will take place in Tarlac on July 24. The next legs will be held in Metro Manila (July 31), Batangas (August 7), Lucena (August 14), Naga (August 28), Tagbilaran (September 18), Cebu (September 25), Dumaguete (October 2), Davao (October 9), General Santos (October 16), Cagayan de Oro (October 23) and Butuan (October 30).