Marathoner Abby Ponce felt faint near the Super Metro in Mandaue City—about 15 kilometers into the 21K race—in last Sunday’s 3rd Mayor Jonas Cortes Run, also known as Mandaue’s Mini Death March.

On the hottest day of the year, Ponce felt cold.

Ponce was already feeling weak on her way to the Cansaga Bay Bridge. On the bridge, she was puking and retching. She ran-walked until Super Metro on United Nations Ave., where she had to stop because she felt faint. She asked for help from several police personnel stationed along the route to get a ride to the finish line at the Cebu International Convention Center (CICC).

MANDAUE CITY RUN. Lack of water, absence of marshals and a shorter-than-announced route made the Mayor Jonas Cortes Run last Sunday the worst fun run of the year. (PHOTO BY RAMIE IGANA)

They just looked at her.

Ponce trudged on until the Total gasoline station where a police officer let her ride one of the motorcycles and brought her near an ambulance at the CICC. She asked people at the finish line, who were having breakfast, to let her sniff some ammonia to revive her.

They just took turns watching over Ponce while one started fanning her with a folded bond paper. Talk about origami as emergency medical procedure.

“That was an experience I don’t want to repeat, I tell you, Max,” Ponce told me yesterday.

It is a sentiment shared by almost all the runners I talked to.

Hottest day of the year

In Mandaue City, it was hot enough to cook instant pancit canton under the sun during the 3rd Mayor Jonas Cortes Run. PAG-ASA said that with temperatures reaching 34 degrees Celsius, last Sunday was the hottest day of the year.

And yet water station after water station yielded the same disappointing sight—three empty water containers, no cups and attendants who just looked straight through you.

They didn’t give a damn that you were nearing dehydration.

On A.C. Cortes Ave., I punched the side mirror of a jeepney that cut me off, intentionally grazing me. The driver was apparently angered by the traffic gridlock he just passed and saw me as a target. I hope I broke that mirror.

I quickly ran after that flash of anger, conscious that I was at a sub-2 hours pace and wondering whether runners at my pace would stop to help if the driver went after me. Runner Kenneth Toledo, who has a black belt in taekwondo, was too far ahead, going after a personal record, to be of help.

Organizers of the Mandaue Mini Death March left runners last Sunday at the mercy not only of the intense heat but also of abusive drivers. Runner Karen D. Quiñanola-Gonzales said in the CebuRunning Facebook fan page that she was run into a gutter.

Despite all these, I was on pace to finish at least a minute faster than the 1 hour and 58 minutes I recorded in The Great Lapu-Lapu Run 21K and was prepared to give everything in a final burst to the finish line.

To my horror and intense disappointment, my GPS watch indicated I was still a kilometer short when the finish line came into sight. I finished in 1 hour and 54 minutes, 600 meters short of 21K.

After the torture of the heat, lack of water and abusive drivers, the 3rd Mayor Jonas Cortes Run robbed me a personal record.

Shortcut

If you’ve read about how top runners improved on their 21K times in the race, there’s your explanation. The route was short. What’s worse, the top runners did not complete the route because the lead pack marshal got lost and did not pass the actual turning point under the Mandaue Mactan Bridge. The first runner to actually complete the route, Elvin Rey Flores, ended in 10th place.

Even eventual winner Simon Losiaboi expressed astonishment at his time, 1 hour and 9 seconds, and muttered that the route wasn’t exactly 21K, one of the top 10 male finishers told me.

There were runners who did not complete the course last Sunday, either intentionally or inadvertently—because of the lack of route markers and turning point directions. One marshal was said to have encouraged runners to take a short cut because they ran out of turning point ribbons anyway.

While there were some who did take shortcuts intentionally, most didn’t. Susan Militante echoed the sentiments of most runners when she said, “Dili gyud ko. Ngano gud? Ako rang ilaron akong kaugalingon? (I would never do that. I’ll just be fooling myself)”

It was the worst race ever, runners in the CebuRunning community said.

The heat was too much for Joe France Cañizares and with no water to help him cool down, he took off his shirt on Cansaga Bay Bridge. Aeda Mae Siao suffered cramps, partly because of the lack of hydration, in what would have been a great run for her. Aeda had to buy four bottles of water in one of the gasoline stations.

After finishing my run, I went back the route to look for Marlen, who was also running 21K. At the corner near the Mandaue City Comprehensive National High School, I saw two police officers or interns just sitting in the shade, not bothering to direct cars away from the runners.

At the intersection near the University of the Visayas, I chanced upon a man in his 50s, who looked to be in charge, telling the marshal at the intersection to leave.

Struggling

The younger marshal insisted that he stayed but the old man raised his voice to tell him to leave.

I told the two that they should continue managing traffic in the intersection because many 21K runners were still on the road. That cut their conversation.

But as I started to run the route again, the old man said with contempt, “kay mudagan diay siya balik.”

Along the way, I found runners who were obviously struggling because of the heat and lack of water. I gave some of them water that I bought from one of the stores in the area.

After finding Marlen, I paced her in the last kilometer or so. She finished in 2 hours and 24 minutes, on pace to improve on her Cebu City Marathon time. Another potential personal record voided by the short distance. Not only that, I had to point out to the staff manning the finish line that she should be listed in women’s category. The staff member seemed to just stick the names on the tally sheet without bothering to check.

The organizer of the run was the Mandaue Runners Club. But I doubt whether real runners manned the streets in Mandaue City last Sunday. It seemed they wanted the race to be over with as soon as the winners were known. It seemed they wanted everyone to stop running and just get off the street as soon as the last podium finisher crossed the finish line.

The last finishers of the 21K race all looked so relieved as they headed to the finish line. One of the motorcycle marshals told one of the finishers, “congrats, you’re last.” But he wasn’t. A few minutes later, two more runners arrived. You could just imagine the hell they had to go through.

Standard

Last Sunday’s race is the best argument in favor of calls to standardize road races. Joel Garganera, serial marathoner and candidate for the Cebu City Council in the North District, said that if he wins next week, he would, among his major legislative agenda, call for the creation of a commission to look after the welfare of runners in Cebu City.

Garganera, who was among those who organized the well-run Running MAD 2 in Barangay Lahug, said there was a need to take organizers into account for the runners’ safety in road races.

But apart from improving the holding of road races, Garganera said he would work to make the city’s roads friendlier to pedestrians and runners.

It would be great if that happens—that Cebu City’s roads become friendlier to runners. But Mandaue City? I won’t run in a race there again. Not soon, anyway.

There’s another race scheduled in the city on May 16. The race, named Rundaue, has a different set of organizers and will have 10K as longest route. It will still pass through the scenic Cansaga Bay Bridge.

I hope the organizers will save Mandaue City’s name by doing it right this time.