The 2025 Finals: Night Starts From La Paz Plaza
The 2025 National MILO Marathon Finals were held on Sunday 7 December 2025 in Iloilo City, as the last of 25 races in that year's series [1][2]. Organisers said the MILO Marathon was on its 49th run [3]. Every distance started and finished at La Paz Plaza, but each category ran its own route [4].
The starts came in the dark: the marathon at 2am, the half marathon at 3am and the 10 km at 3.30am, with the 3 km and 5 km at 5.30am and 5.35am [4]. Organisers expected 24,000 to 25,000 runners across all distances, including about 400 marathon qualifiers from the regional legs [4][3]. There were also 3 km, 5 km and 10 km categories for runners with disabilities, at fixed prices of P250, P450 and P800 [1].
MILO's sports head described the Iloilo roads as wide and well maintained [3]. No official route map for the finals could be found, but a marathon route that one MapMyRun user posted under the name of the 2025 finals, starting in La Paz, measures 43.0 km and never rises above about 16 m [5].
Getting Into the Marathon: You Have to Qualify
The finals marathon is not an open race. The public registration page for the Iloilo finals offered only the half marathon, 10 km, 5 km and 3 km, at P1,799, P1,599, P699 and P499, plus processing and delivery charges [1]. Marathon places went to runners who met an age-group standard at a regional leg: in 2025, for runners aged 18 to 34, that meant 3:55 in a marathon or 1:40 in a half for men, and 4:30 or 1:50 for women, with the standards easing by age group [6]. Qualifiers got free registration, a free singlet and a ticket to the Champions' Dinner [6], which in 2025 was held in Iloilo on the Friday before the race [3].
The rules add a few conditions. Marathon and half-marathon runners must be 18 or older and bring a fit-to-run medical certificate signed by a doctor within two months of the race [6]. Overseas runners may take part but cannot win, and only Filipino runners can take the top three places in the finals marathon [6]. Bibs cannot be transferred, running with an unregistered pacer gets you disqualified, and the winners are decided on gun time [6]. Top-ten finishers in the half marathon, 10 km, 5 km and 3 km can no longer enter later MILO Marathon races [6].
Aid, Medical Cover and Cut-offs
The organiser said there were more than 40 hydration stations across the five routes, one every 1.5 to 2 km, with 20 ambulances and 20 motorbike medics on standby and 18 teams along the routes [3].
The limits are firm. The marathon had six hours, the half two and a half, the 10 km two hours and the 5 km and 3 km one hour, each counted from when the last runner crossed the start [3][6]. There are also checks along the way so roads can reopen: marathoners had to reach 21 km within three and a half hours and 32 km within five hours, and half marathoners 10 km within an hour and a half [6]. Runners who miss one must stop, board the official vehicle and are disqualified without a medal [6].
The organiser also addressed a familiar complaint from motorists, about participants who walk rather than run: marshals were told to push runners to keep moving, and the cut-offs are there so the roads can reopen [3]. Marathon finishers inside the limit got a medal, a loot bag and a finisher's shirt [6]. Every half-marathon finisher got the loot bag and shirt, but only those inside the cut-off got the medal and certificate; 10 km finishers inside the limit got a medal and a loot bag [6]. Baggage storage was only for the 10 km, half and marathon [6].
Weather: A Storm Warning Before the Race
Two days before the race, Tropical Depression Wilma posed a threat. RunRio's general manager said the organiser was coordinating with PAGASA, the national weather agency, that rain was acceptable but a storm or flood was not, and that the race would be postponed if needed [3]. It went ahead as planned on 7 December [7].
For 2026 the finals move to Clark City in Pampanga [8], so the conditions in Iloilo say little about next year's race.
How Fast the Field Is
Eduardo Flores, 27, from General Santos City, won the marathon in 2:27:58 to become the MILO Marathon King [9][2]. Second place took 2:31:08 and third 2:32:19 [7]. Myrel Benignos, 22, from Negros, won the women's race in 3:15:21 and became the youngest MILO Marathon Queen [9][2], only 47 seconds ahead of second place (3:16:08), with third in 3:17:50 [7]. They succeeded Richard Salaño and Christine Hallasgo, the 2024 champions, who went on to represent the Philippines at the Southeast Asian Games in Thailand [9].
Behind the podium the field spreads out quickly. Tenth place in the marathon was 2:51:21 for men and 3:41:25 for women [7]. Of 366 marathon finishers in the results, 15 ran under three hours and 178 under four; the median finisher took 4:03:04 on gun time [7]. The published results list 134 half-marathon and 382 10 km finishers. The half was won in 1:14:20 by a man and 1:52:26 by a woman, and the 10 km in 33:37 and 45:08 [7].
Prize money goes to the top three: P50,000, P30,000 and P20,000 for the first three men and women in the finals marathon, with medals from fourth to tenth [6].
One marathoner who set a personal best wrote that they started slowly, at heart-rate zone 3, so as not to overheat later, ran the second half at tempo pace and still struggled over the last 5 km, but finished with a negative split [10].
Should You Enter the 2026 Finals?
Yes, if you can hit a qualifying time at one of the regional legs and want to race the season's final against the series' fastest qualifiers, or if you want a well-supported half marathon or 10 km with a big crowd. In 2025 the women's half marathon was won in 1:52:26, so a strong club runner can finish high up in the shorter races.
Think twice if you are a slower marathoner: the six-hour limit and the checks at 21 km and 32 km are enforced, and a place depends on qualifying earlier in the year. Overseas runners can take part but cannot win prizes.
The 2026 finals are scheduled for Sunday 6 December in Clark City, Pampanga, at the end of the series' 50th-anniversary season of 15 races, and the organiser says dates may change [8][11]. Clark hosted one of the regional legs on 3 August 2025 [1]. The 2026 start times, routes, cut-offs and qualifying standards for the finals had not been published when this was written.
Nobody from this site ran the race. This review draws on the organiser's rules and registration pages, the published results, local and national reporting before and after the race, and one runner's own account.