Organizers are currently holding a press conference on the Cebu edition of Run United by Unilab and RunRio.

* Organizer says Cebu leg is final leg of nationwide Run United series.
* Lester Castillo, Sports Director of Unilab, says their company wants to promote active lifestyle among Filipino families.
* Castillo says they are targetting 5,000 runners for the Cebu leg.
* All 21Kfinishers will get finishers’ shirts and medals.
* RunRio says they are the first to use an iPad automated registration system for race registration.
*Local organizer Kenneth Casquejo of RunCheck says RunRio will not impose a cutoff on 21K runners.

It is a fact that a lot of dreaded diseases like cancer, chronic lung disease, asthma, cardiovascular disease are caused by tobacco smoke. It is time for smokers to kick the habit and for non-smokers to help in the campaign against the killer vice.

Tobacco kills more than five million people a year -- more than HIV, TB and malaria combined, and will kill more unless urgent action is taken. (IMAGE*AFTER photo)

The Talisay District Hospital, as one of the primary providers of health services in the community, aims not only to treat but to protect its clientele from the harmful effects of tobacco smoke. The hospital has therefore embarked on the promotion of tobacco cessation in its institution and nearby communities.

To gain a city-wide awareness of this program, the Talisay District Hospital Committee on Tobacco Cessation, in cooperation with the Talisay City Runners Club, will launch on August 28 the “Run for a 100% Smoke-Free Environment.”

The run will be in 3k, 5k, 10k and 21k categories. It will start and end at the Talisay City Hall by way of the SRP. For more information and details about how you can join the run and/or help in the smoke-free campaign, please call 273-3225. (PR)

“In light of the feedback we have been getting after last Sunday’s Race to Reduce Challenge, we acknowledge that indeed there were problems during the race and things could have been done better. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience experienced by some of the runners,” Aboitiz Equity Ventures chief reputation officer Sebastian “Basti” Lacson said in an email.

“We assure everyone that we have noted all comments and will use these as bases to improve next year’s event.”

“We would like to thank everyone who joined this year’s race and we look forward to having them join us in the Aboitiz Race to Reduce Challenge in the coming years. Our commitment to protect the environment remains; we will plant a tree on behalf of every runner who registered for the race,” he said.

Mr. Lacson’s humility and taking of responsibility is admirable and speaks well of the company he serves.

Race director Raffy Uytiepo begged off from giving a comment and gave way to Basti. He said they were still having a meeting yesterday to assess what went wrong last Sunday.

The main complaints against Sunday’s race were the lack of water stations, absence of race marshals and a route that was short by more than half a kilometer.

At a time when many runners wear global positioning system (GPS) watches and there are free tools such as Google Maps that allow you to accurately measure distance by tracing a line on a map, it is difficult to fathom mistakes in route distances.

The lack of water stations and race marshals is also puzzling for a race co-organized by a top company like Aboitiz and various local government units. But I’ve had reports that Mr. Lacson and other Aboitiz officials were manning the routes themselves and doing what they could to help runners. The question is—where were the other race personnel?

A colleague said one runner was nearly hit by a speeding bus that went out of its lane. Several runners told me they had to fend for themselves on the road. While we should be thankful that nothing untoward happened to runners last Sunday, local government units should realize that they risked a major disaster by failing to field traffic personnel and talk to drivers of buses and jeepneys to be mindful of runners last Sunday.

A source said teams from local governments were present on the route very early on race day but they disappeared by 8 a.m. The source also said only Compostela had some people staying behind to help runners. Liloan, a town headed by a triathlete and runner, also had a medical team deployed until the last runner passed the town.

While Sunday’s run may have been a setback for Aboitiz, I am confident they will stage an infinitely better event next year. I hope that organizers can reconsider holding the marathon the day after Pasigarbo so that local government officials and workers can focus on specific events. I think the marathon would make a great kickoff event for Capitol’s month-long Charter anniversary.

I hope organizers can also focus more on making the marathon a great experience for regular runners than on the escalating contest of which event can offer the richest bounty for elite runners. Cut the prizes and spend more for regular runners — that’s one formula for race success.

Eduardo Buenavista, the Philippine’s record holder for the marathon, finished third with a time of 2:26:21.

Rising Cebuana running star Mary Joy Tabal recorded her first marathon win by finishing Sunday’s race in 2:57:59, a personal best. Luisa Raterta of Manila placed second with a time of 3:07.50 while Ailene Tolentino placed third with her time of 3:09.46.

Below is the full report of finish times of participants with timing chips in last Sunday’s race.

Aboitiz Race to Reduce 2011 Finishers

But go there today and you’ll find a changed place.

When I was still new to Cebu 15 years ago, I used to dread being downtown. Friends who had been here for years would tell me never to bring anything valuable there. In my mind’s eye, a robber lurked at every street corner.

Plaza Independencia was in that list of you-know-where—places you don’t ever want to find yourself in. “ Tulison ka diha, du (you’ll get robbed there)” was the serious warning of a hometown acquaintance who gesticulated, twisting an imaginary knife.

Mayor Michael Rama hosts the Ungo Runners at the newly-renovated Plaza Independencia. (PHOTO BY RAMIE IGAÑA)

But I’ve been there three times in recent weeks and found the area quite beautiful. More important, the Plaza Independencia is now a good and scenic place to run.

The area now has a walking path that’s about 700 meters, excluding the portion still being worked on near the ALU-TUCP office. The path, however, is made of concrete slabs so running can be painful after a few kilometers.

The place has its unique charm—a religious debate happens there daily. I passed by a group of men 300 meters into my run and caught a gap-toothed man wearing shorts mocking his debate opponent in Bisaya, “What kind of God can be vindictive?”

By the snippets of conversation I was able to catch, the group was apparently debating divine punishment. But these religious debaters never go beyond raised voices and mocking, I was told.

Epiphany, however, isn’t with the religious debates. It’s something you experience after completing round after round after round in an area of such historical significance.

On one side, you can find Fort San Pedro, which Leon Kilat and his army of Cebuano revolutionaries attacked. On the other side you can see Malacañang sa Sugbo, the old Bureau of Customs building converted into then president Gloria Arroyo’s office in southern Philippines.

Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama, the architect of the renovation, spoke proudly of the historic area when he hosted Ungo Runners there last Friday. Rama said he wanted people who would love the plaza to gather there with their families to walk, run and enjoy the place.

Rama said he has good memories of his father taking him to the plaza.

When asked whether the Plaza Independencia today is closer to the plaza of his childhood, Rama and former college classmate Sheila Colmenares blurted out at the same time, “This is better.”

The author with Singapore Sundown Ultramarathon 100K finishers Joel Garganera (center) and Napoleon de la Torre. (PHOTO BY MITCH SO)

Tabal topped the 15K category by finishing the run in 01:01:18.262, according to race times organizers released to reporters. Christy Tutor was second by finish the race in 01:06:36.865 while Jhean Andrin was third with a time of 01:10:02.167.

John Philip Dueñas, who coaches Tabal, topped the men’s 15K with a blistering 00:51:52.285. Arnold Onabia was a far second with a time of 00:51:57.351while Adonis Singson placed third with his time of 00:52:41.294.

Jobert Carolino topped the 6K male category with his time of 00:18:29.230. Jess Gonzaga was second with an official time of 00:18:30.810 while Jordan Bacong was third with a time of 00:19:22.740.

Jojielyn Pepito was the fastest female in the 6K category with a time of 00:22:38.310. Janine Mansueto was second, clocking 00:22:40.380 while Lovely Andrin was third with her time of 00:23:50.890.

In the 3K male category, Ronnie Andrin placed first with his time of 00:09:48.370. Joel Andrin was second with a time of 00:09:54.300 while Kenneth Cabantan was third with his official time of 00:10:03.830.

Cherry Andrin, meanwhile, topped women’s 3K with a time of 00:11:54.510. Carla Cosep placed 2nd with a time of 00:13:07.060, while Michelle Eboso was third, clocking 00:14:42.760.

Yesterday’s run was organized to raise funds to pay for high school education of poor but deserving students.

“Tana, moalsa kita karong adlawa. Kadtong saad ayaw na’g hulata, dili ta kini palabyong adlawa. Kay usa ka gutlo nga paglangan, libo ka dupa ang kadaugan sa atbang (Come, let us start the uprising today. Let’s not wait for the promised help, we will not let this day pass. A moment wasted means victory for the enemy.),” Leon Kilat was reported to have exhorted Cebuano Katipuneros, according to journalist Emil Justimbaste in his website, which has long been taken offline.

Leon Kilat and his band would gain control of key Cebu installations like Fort San Pedro, the seat of local government. The Spaniards, however, fought back and forced Kilat and his forces to retreat to the southern town of Kabkab, the present-day Carcar City.

UNGO RUNNERS in front of Leon Kilat’s monument in Carcar City. The statue was the finish point of the 1st Leon Kilat’s Retreat, a run held to honor Katipunan leader Pantaleon Villegas, more popularly known as Leon Kilat. (Photo by Victor Chan)

Upon arriving at the town, Kilat was treated like a dignitary. Carcar officials prepared him a feast of goat’s meat, chicken and pork. After supper, he was offered “coffee and ginebra.” When the tired revolutionary was asleep, however, traitors in Carcar made their move and killed him, with the designated killer, Apolinario Alcuitas, announcing for all to hear, “Mga kaigsoonan, ipahibalo ko kaninyo nga karong gabhiona, may ihawon akong kabayo.” (Brothers, I would like to announce that tonight I am going to slaughter a horse.)

The traitors ganged up on Kilat in the early morning of Good Friday, stabbing him repeatedly to make sure he was dead—Kilat was reported to be invulnerable because of his amulets. Eight men pinned him to the floor, taking turns stabbing him.

I have long been fascinated by the life of Leon Kilat and found it unfortunate that heroes like him are barely written about in our history books.

Before I researched on the local revolution for a special Independence Day issue of the now-defunct The Independent Post in 1998, the only Leon Kilat I knew was a street in downtown Cebu City. But Leon Kilat and the Cebu revolution make for fascinating reading and pretty soon I was hooked.

I’ve long planned to run in Leon Kilat’s footsteps. Last year, my wife, Marlen, and I ran from Dumaguete to Bacong town, where Leon Kilat was born, to Valencia then back to Dumaguete—one of the most memorable road and off-road runs I’ve tried.

But my goal was always to run from Cebu City to Carcar to follow Leon Kilat’s retreat and honor his martyrdom.

Last Sunday, I did just that with my running group—the Ungo Runners. Last April 3, 113 years after Leon Kilat launched the revolution in Cebu, 59 runners set off from the kilometer 0 marker in front of Capitol in Cebu City to run to Leon Kilat’s monument in Carcar City, close to 40 kms. away.

The run, which we called “Leon Kilat’s Retreat,” was exclusive to regular Ungo Runners, although we stressed that “bandits were very much welcome.” A bandit is runnerspeak for an unregistered runner.

KILOMETER ZERO. Ungo Runners gather at the Kilometer 0 marker in Capitol for the start of Leon Kilat’s Retreat (PHOTO BY/RICHELIEU MARIANO HO)

Instead of running shirts, we had exclusive bandanas with an Ungo Smiley rendered as a KKK icon. Among the many legends of Leon Kilat was that he was able to fly around using his magical red handkerchief.

The heat was searing last Sunday, but it was matched by the warmth of the members of our support groups. Ungo Runners are very lucky to have such supportive members who made sure we were safe, well-fed and well-hydrated throughout the route. Hardcore ultra-runner Brod Carlo Bacalla did the equivalent of an ultra-marathon by serving as a roving marshal—doing a headcount on the run to make sure everyone was accounted for.

Our finish line was Leon Kilat’s statue on the road leading to the Carcar City Hall. Although the entire route was just about 40 kilometers, most of us completed a full marathon because we had to walk more than a kilometer away to the sumptuous feast that awaited us, in the ancestral home of marathoner and heart surgeon Peter Mancao, our host.

The Carcar City Government, which was represented by Public Information Officer Ra Solomon and City Administrator Edgar Oca, welcomed the runners and said they want to be more closely involved next year. Solomon said they were thankful for Leon Kilat’s Retreat because it raised the profile of a local revolutionary hero. He said many in Carcar do not even know who Leon Kilat is.

Fifty-nine runners ran from Capitol for Carcar last Sunday. Of the number, 57 made it to Leon Kilat’s statue. There were no major incidents in the run. Serial marathoner Joel Garganera, however, suffered injuries when he tripped. Garganera, who never stops poking fun at anything, said he was jinxed by Leon Kilat because he played the role of the assassin in a play on the Cebuano revolutionary’s life.

Next year, the run will be bigger, albeit still exclusive to regular Ungo Runners (you still have time to rack up attendance records by attending our weekly Friday Night Run in Ayala Center Cebu).

And by some stroke of luck, next year’s run will be on April 8, the day Leon Kilat was martyred.

DR. MANCAO’S ANCESTRAL HOME. Some members of the excellent Ungo support crew at the ancestral home of Dr. Peter Mancao, who hosted a sumptuous feast for the runners.

What stops you from actually screaming is that when you do run up that stretch, you are most likely already out of breath. The road is so steep—GPS data indicated the race route had an elevation gain of 1,199 meters—you’d have a stiff neck just by looking ahead while you run.

But for such a difficult stretch to run and walk, the highway in Cansumoroy, Balamban was festive Saturday morning, at least festive in the way running addicts understand the word. But non-runners would have been perplexed by the sight of a small band of weekend warriors going up and apparently enjoying the steep highway.

STEEP ROAD. A long stretch of the national highway in Balamban is so steep you’d get a stiff neck just by looking ahead while running or walking.

At that point on the Cansumoroy highway, I fully felt the pounds I gained in the fest that was the weeks after the Cebu City Marathon. Like the proverbial weight of the world. It didn’t help that I am currently on the quest to find the best-tasting Balamban liempo in Cebu for a blog post in my wife’s website, MyCebu.ph. Days of eating one liempo version after another lead to hours of agony on the Balamban highway. Nothing like gravity to bring you to the ground, to wake you to the reality of an impending DNF. Somewhere in that cruel stretch of highway last Saturday, I made a pledge to finally start training for the Coast-to-Coast Ultramarathon on May 1.

I ran the 21K category paced by my wife and running partner, Marlen, and running friends Cora Quiamco, Benjchz Bullifer Balaoro, Eric Flores, Lyra Valles and ultra-runners Joel Garganera and Bro. Carlo Bacalla. Other running friends who joined the climbathon were Lulu Valiente, couple Bennet and Neth Silario, Phindy Honasan, Twinkle Ignacio, who ran with an enchanting costume complete with a toy monkey on her back.

WAITING FOR GUN START. With Ungo Runners at the Balamban town hall, waiting for the race to start.

Also joining the race were Regional Trial Court Executive Judge and Ungo Runner Meinrado Paredes, who finished the grueling and steep 10K category, and his wife, Smart public affairs manager for Visayas-Mindanao Jane Paredes, who placed 2nd in the 5K women’s category. Their daughter Nikki, a hard-core Ungo runner, placed 2nd in women’s 10K, which was dominated by top female trail runner Merlita Arias-Dunkin.

As expected, Mary Grace delos Santos topped the women’s 21K with hardly a contest. Before the race, she told me she would run it like a regular Sunday long run.

If you can keep up with him, Garganera is a good pacer. He makes fun of most everything and everyone and before you know it, the kilometers just zip by. Brod Carlo, on the other hand, looked as if he was merely running a Sunday 5K, which is likely the case considering he just finished the 160-kilometer edition of the Bataan Death March.

WITH MARLEN in Barangay Cansumoroy in Balamban. In the background is the shipyard that is the main source of income for the town.

As we moved closer to the finish line at the camp site in Mt. Manunggal, our small group started to slowly break apart. When we crossed the muddy finish line, it was only Marlen and me. Others had gone ahead or had dropped behind.

But despite the mud and the punishing terrain, Marlen and I, as well as many runners I talked to, had so much fun in last Saturday’s 6th Paghandum ni Magsaysay Adventure Climbathon. Marlen and I had already decided even when we were still running the race to come back next year.

Of course, there were a couple of hitches in the event. First, the 21-kilometer race route was actually just 18 kilometers. Garganera was quick to give a good-natured reply, “I have no complaints.” But organizers could have let the runners take three more kilometers around the town and show off their place before letting them into the highway. That way, the 21-kilometer distance could have been met.

Organizers were also late in starting the run. The announced gun start was 5 a.m. but the race actually started after 6 a.m. I think a late gun start is good because it is so cold and foggy on Mt. Manunggal in early mornings. I think it would have been best for the organizers to designate a later gun start, say 6:30 or even 7 a.m., and actually follow it. That way, runners have the option of waking up late and taking their time going to the starting line.

MUDDY CAMP SITE. The muddy finish line at the camp site on Mt. Manunggal.

The finish line was also very muddy and several runners slipped. I don’t see how organizers can deal with this without moving the finish line. Mt. Manunggal veterans said that since the recent years, it always rains during the yearly Mt. Manunggal trek. When you join next year, you might want to consider wearing trail shoes.

Organizers also failed to hand out the finishers’ medals at the venue. We were told at the site that the medals were still on the way. Those who couldn’t wait were asked, instead, to claim it at the Capitol office of Provincial Board Member Alex Binghay.

Still, despite these hitches, last Saturday’s run was so much fun. Balamban and the Transcentral Highway is such a great place to run.

The success of last Saturday’s event can be credit to Balamban Councilor Dave Karamihan, who was all over the place making sure runners were safe and well taken care of.

The next time Karamihan announces a climbathon to Mt. Manunggal, sign up. If last Saturday’s run was any indication, it will be yet another fun run.

AFTER THE RUN. My and Marlen’s shoes after the run. Next year, we’ll wear trail shoes.

Here’s the GPS record of my run:

Here are the winners of the climbathon:

Open/Elite 21K
Men
Joel Alcorin 1:26:32
Adonis Singson 1:27:51
Jobert Carolino 1:28:05
Alvirg Busa 1:36:43
Emerson Trazo 1:44:37
Moh Sherwin Managil 1:50:47
Recardo Idjao 1:57:12
Virgilio Belecario 2:08:30
Dan Climaco 2:11:42
Cilu Joel Ouano 2:14:17

Women
Mary Grace de los Santos 1:50:46
Joeyry Lee 2:05:41
Rose Marie Adlawan 2:13:23
Virginia Parajenog 2:49:32
Mandiveza Lyra Valles 2:58:55
Marlen Limpag 3:02:43
Cora Ociones 3:15:01
Liza Tacang 3:15:36
Maria Casilda Rubic 3:20:32
Romylin Nina Ignacio 3:22:23

Men’s 10K
Miljone Luterte 56:13
Paul James Zafico 58:17
Michel Largo 58:18

Women’s 10K
Merlita Dunkin 1:26:49
Nikki Paredes 2:00:22
Grace Ruperto 2:25:22

Men’s 5k
Micheal Sabanal 31:10
Virgilio Unabia 31:11
Alger Gabunada 31:12

Women’s 5K
Alyssa Lagahit 32:19
Ma. Jane Paredes 1:25:50

The race, which was organized by RunCheck, used the Sprint Timing System, the only local company to offer race timing systems in Cebu.

Here are the race times in the different categories. The results are searchable. To search for your name or bib number, use the search box at the bottom right of the results listing. Your finish time is listed in the Elapsed column.

21K Male

21K Female

10K Male

10K Female

Ungo Runners who can’t attend are requested to arrange for someone to drop their names and to pick names for them.

Ungo Runners are asked to wear their Ungo Shirts for the run. If you have the black shirt with reflectorized print, please wear it. Please feel free to run in costumes, organizers will be handing out a prize for the runners wearing the best costumes.

Registration for the Midnight Run is still ongoing in Runnr. But Ungo Runners can register using the form below and just pay at the venue. Please register ASAP so that I can submit the names to the race organizer later today. Thanks and see you!