BACOLOD CITY — Eric Panique of Himamaylan City and Ben Alejandrino of E.B.Magalona booked seats to grand finals of the Milo Marathon by finishing 1-2 in the Bacolod leg Sunday here.

Panique clocked an impressive time of one hour, 12 minutes and 55 seconds in claiming his fourth leg championship in this foot race held in partnership with Bayview Park Hotel-Manila and the Department of Tourism.

Alejandrino actually took the early lead in the men's 21-kilometer qualifying race but Panique caught up with him after the turnaround point of the race. Panique poured more heat from there to pull away for good in the 21K contest.

Aside from earning a berth in the finals, Panique pocketed the P10,000 cash prize. Alejandrino clocked 1:13:16 and took the P6,000 second place purse.

The qualifying time for the men is 1:15:00. Third placer Joel Alcorin of Escalante, Occidental Negros came in at 1:20:24 and failed to advance to the finals slated on Oct. 11 in Metro Manila.

No runner qualified in the women’s race.