■ Ofelia C. Empian
Mountain Pro-vince running pride Lawagan Jacob Ma-dalang is this year’s champion of the Four Lakes 100 held on Feb. 24 at Kayapa, Nueva Vizcaya.
The Sagada native finished the grueling race in 21 hours, 15 minutes and 39 se-conds to be the event’s 10th edition champion of the annual event as part of the King of the Mountain Trail (KOMT) Philippines series.
“I am thankful for finishing this challenging race without injury. Bonus pa na nakatikim ng first place. I was surprised to find the big names absent at the 2024 FL100,” Madalang said in his Facebook post.
Ian Acierto is second place with a time of 21:43:47 while Marvin Aniñon settled for third place with a time of 22:54:25 and Joseph Stephen Paspe in fourth place with a time of 26:02:30.
On the distaff side, Irish Niña Glorioso finished the race in one day, 2:39:49 time, followed by Shekinah Glory Velazquez with one day, 3:47:56 time.
In another race of the KOTM series, Bureau of Jail and Management and Penology officer, S/Insp. Rhys Yvan Pawid topped the Cascade Trail Challenge (CTC) on Feb. 25 with a time of 4:18:42.
Scott Alm of Ca-nada is on second place with a time of 5:12:09 while Don Antonio Marcelo Santillan finished in third with a time of 6:18:42 and Mark Julius Mendoza in fourth with a time of 6:18:44.
In another race happening simultaneously with the CTC, the Old Spa-nish Trail was dominated by Benjamin Nicolas with a time of 6:36:55.
Delfin Osias placed second with a time of 10:37:50 followed by Clarisse Francesca Yeung at 10:40:48 and Simon Adriano at 10:40:49.
The KOTM series consists of six trail running events held annually in the Cordillera mountain ranges and nearby Kayapa, Nueva Vizcaya.
The events under KOTM include Mount Ugo Marathon (MUM), CTC, Old Spanish Trail 50K (OST) and Four Lakes 100K (FL100) in February, Pulag 100K (P1) in April and Hardcore 100 Miles (H1) in May.
KOTM is accredited by the Department of Tourism as well as international trail running associations in Europe and the United States.
