5th University Run offers personalized race bibs for first 500 registrants

Posted on by

The first 500 registrants to the Cebu Doctors’ University’s (CDU) flagship race, the University Run, on August 15 will get personalized race bibs, organizers announced in a press conference Tuesday night.

This is the first time that a race in Cebu, even possibly in the country, will allow registrants to specify what is printed in their race bibs.

PERSONALIZED RACE BIB. Organizer Dr. Potenciano “Yong” Larrazabal III with a sample of the personalized race bib that will be assigned to the first 500 registrants of the 5th University Run on August 15. CLICK TO ENLARGE IMAGE (PHOTO BY MAX LIMPAG)

Dr. Potenciano “Yong” Larrazabal III, a marathoner who has been recognized by the Sportswriters Association of Cebu for his contribution to running, said the first 500 people to register for the run can specify what combination of letters and numerals would be printed in their race bibs. Larrazabal said the bib has room for 6 letters or digits.

He said that in races abroad, personalized race bibs are only reserved for elite runners.

If you still haven’t registered, however, you should do it now because there were already about 100 registrants on Tuesday night. Registration fee is P250 but students need only to pay P200. Registration areas are in Larrazabal’s Center for Sight clinic in Cebu Doctors’ Hospital, Nike Athletic Club in the Banilad Town Center and CDU.

The race distances are 3K, 5K and 10K. There are separate categories for students and CDU alumni.

Larrazabal said they laid out the race bibs to contain perforated sections that can serve as coupons to claim snacks, water and samples from sponsors to make for an orderly finish line.

Choice between t-shirt, singlet

Also for the first time in a race in Cebu, runners will get the option of getting either a t-shirt or singlet. Larrazabal said they allowed this because there are people who are not comfortable wearing a race singlet.

Larrazabal also said they will be raffling off close to a hundred prizes during the race, from limited-edition basketballs to Smart Bro mobile Internet USB dongles.

He also said that they will be serving ice-cold water and Gatorade during the race, which will be held at the CDU campus in Mandaue City. He said they tried it in last Sunday’s Dental Run and got raves from runners.

Route closed to traffic

As with previous stagings of the University Run, the route will be completely closed to traffic. “This is the only 10K route race in Cebu without vehicle traffic,” he said during the press conference.

Larrazabal said Cebu Doctors’ Hospital will be fielding 2 ambulances during the race to make sure runners are safe, considering the recent deaths in road races. He said they will be scheduling a talk by runner and heart surgeon Dr. Peter Mancao days before the race.

The 5th University Run also got a lot of key sponsors including telecoms giant Smart Communications Inc. and Nature Valley, which has Donna Cruz-Larrazabal as endorser.

2 major races on the same day

When asked whether he now sees a competition between his group and the organizers of the Pilipinas International Marathon that would be held on the same day, Larrazabal said no. “Hopefully, both races will be successful.”

He did say, however, that he does not think Cebu is ready to have two major races on the same day.

Larrazabal said they are targeting to attract 3,000 runners to the event, a figure that his father, Dr. Potenciano Larrazabal Jr., said was attainable.

Mancao said the money that they earn from the staging of University Runs are used to fund medical missions in Cebu.

  • markin gomez

    i think that idea of a personalized race bib is awesome. You see, most runners are keeping their race bibs as a souvenir of finishing the THAT race. It’s one of the few things that reminds us about the event.

  • http://mysundaespecial.blogspot.com ling

    why 500 slots only? everyone deserves a personalized bib!

  • markin gomez

    i still consider myself a newbie and race bibs are like my latest “collection”.. i know it may be a lil pain for organizers/sponsors to make this available to everyone but its value to runners are above being appreciated for joining the race. nevertheless, it’s not that runners run for free.. it’s nice to feel we’re given a small token of acknowledgement after paying the ever increasing fee that’s sometimes draining our budget… it’s still a win-win for organizers: in return, have our loyalty for your next year’s race.

  • admin

    From what I’ve gathered, offering personalized race bibs is a bit harder to arrange that’s why the organizers limited it to the first 500.

    If you want one, sign up now. Last I’ve heard, 300 na ang naka register.

    Let’s hope this goes well and it becomes a standard feature of races.

  • marlon

    can the organizers make the registrations more accessible to the runners?banilad is so far and the hospital is limited to office hours.

  • [email protected]

    Hi Max. Would you know if the route is an exact 10 k? I’m hoping that it is since gauging performance is one of my objectives for this race. I’ve heard that the circuit is a bit short. Perhaps organizers can have separate start and finish points to cover the exact distance?

  • admin

    Hi, Amale,
    I’ll check with other runners but the GPS record in one of the Run for Sight events held there indicated the route was short 200 meters. But I think this was when the lead pack escort made a wrong turn. I’ll ask those who were able to run the route recently.