The Filipino team from Team 7-Eleven captured an impressive overall haul of 13 medals and were in control of most of the race categories.
In the full marathon, covering a distance of 42 kilometres, Arlan Arbois Jr claimed the gold medal to finish as overall champion in an impressive time of 2 hours 34 minutes and 48 seconds. Arbois Jr was participating in the male 18-29 age class.
Clocking in 7 minutes and 25 seconds behind his countryman to claim second place and a silver medal was Florendo Lapiz with a time of 2h 42m 13s. Lapiz was competing in the male 30-39 age group.
Kazuma Minamibata and Seigo Yoshimi, both from Japan, came in third and fourth with times of 2h 49m and 25s and 2h 53m 23s respectively.
Filipina runners dominated the female full marathon with three of the top four finishes. Maricar Camacho was the overall winner with a time of 3h 16m 38s, while compatriots Jennylyn Nobleza and Lizane Abella finished in third and fourth place respectively with times of 3h 32m 25s and 3h 35m 20s. Japan’s Satowa Ota claimed second place overall with a time of 3h 21m 17s.
Nobleza’s time was good enough for her to secure a silver medal in the 30-39 age class of the female full marathon, similarly Abella who scooped a bronze medal in the same age category for her exploits.
The Filipino dominance continued in the male class of the half marathon, which covered a distance of 21km. Richard Solaño continued to do his home country proud by securing the overall champion spot with a time of 1h 13 and 24s to claim the gold medal.
Not far behind Solaño were fellow countrymen Prince Joey Lee, who claimed bronze with a time of 1h 15m 24s, and Jameskevin Cruz, who finished in fourth spot with a time of 1h 16m 40s. Lee and Cruz also claimed silver and bronze medals respectively for finishing second and third in their 16-19 age class.
In the women’s half marathon, Christine Hallasgo from the Philippines came out on top as the overall female champion with a time of 1h 23m 38s to claim the gold medal. Taking bronze in third place was her compatriot Nhea Ann Barcena 1h 29m 40s, who finished just behind Morikawa Chiaki of Japan who claimed second place with a time of 1h 27m 53s.
The Philippines’ Cherry Andrin finished in 5th place overall in the female half marathon with a time of 1h 38m 18s, which was good enough to secure her a gold medal in her age category of 16-29, while just one place behind her was Myrel Benignos in 1h 38 47s, which was good enough to secure her a silver medal in the same age class.
Finishing just 3 seconds behind Benignos in seventh place was Filipina Jennelyn Isibido with a time of 1h 38m 50s, which also secured her a bronze medal in the female 40-49 age class of the half marathon.
Elsewhere, the Thai team of Nuttapong Thongsak, Aunwat Bunmak and Sarayut Thannil won the 42km Marathon relay with a time of 2h 43m 49s.
Krzysztof Hadas of Poland won the men’s 10km race with a time of 33m 19s, while Australia’s Siena Milgate won the women’s race in a time of 41m 5s.
Ho Yin Tse from Hong Kong won the men’s 5km race in 16m 50s and Hayley Newman from Australia came out on top in the women’s race with a time of 19m 7s.
The 2km kids run, specifically for young aspiring athletes aged 12 and below, was won in 7m 24s by Patiphan Chuainu of Thailand in the boys class and Sirinya Kamllai in the girl’s class with a time of 8m 11s.
There was also a specially crafted medal and commemorative gift given to Mike Cartwright from Hong Kong, a legendary figure in the Phuket Marathon community, who celebrated his 300th marathon yesterday when he completed the 42km distance.
Phuket Governor Sophon Suwannarat was at the finish line yesterday to greet all the finishers and extend extra special congratulations to the winners in each race category.
Governor Sophon also joined Yupaporn Saengjunsri, Head of Marketing and Sales at Core Nutrition, to hand out medals to all athletes within their respective classes at an official ceremony after all the races had finished.
It was estimated that around 10,000 runners and visitors from more than 40 countries attended and participated at this year’s marathon, which has become established over the past 18 years as Southeast Asia’s favourite destination marathon.
The two-day format saw the 2km kids run, 5km and 10km races take place on Saturday morning (June 8), with the half marathon, marathon relay and full marathon taking place yesterday. A full list of results can be found here.
Organisers were using this year’s event, themed “Awake Your Inner Dragon”, to inspire people to exercise and live a healthier lifestyle.
The weekend event was also expected to contribute hundreds of millions of baht to Phuket’s tourism economy through accommodation bookings, food and beverage spend.
Dates for next year’s Laguna Phuket Marathon have been set as June 14-15, 2025, organisers said.