Tag Archives: Aboitiz Equity Ventures

Running ban, running boycott

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VETERAN runner and race organizer Raffy Uytiepo fired a broadside at critics of the recent Aboitiz Race to Reduce Challenge with a warning to those who called for a boycott that he will ban them from his races.

“Although it’s a person’s right to join or not, I really don’t care. In fact we have noted the names and will see to it that we will reject their entry forms next time around,” Uytiepo wrote in his column in The Freeman.

“We will remember the names of these guys who called for boycott. You might not even get to run in the other big races we will officiate.” He then listed the races he is organizing, including upcoming ultra-marathons The Warrior 50K Ultramarathon on Sept. 10 and the first ever 100-kilometer run in Cebu on Nov. 18.

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Aboitiz says sorry, pledges to do better next year

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AFTER runners aired complaints on inadequate water and the lack of marshals in last Sunday’s Aboitiz Race To Reduce Challenge 2011, a top company official has apologized and pledged that the company would do better next year.

“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.

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Bigger prizes at stake in Aboitiz-Capitol Race to Reduce Challenge

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This year’s edition of the Race to Reduce Challenge Visayas Leg will offer the biggest prize so far in a race in Cebu — P70,000 to the male and female first-place finishers in the full marathon, organizers announced in a press conference today.

Aboitiz Equity Ventures, Inc. (AEV) chief reputation officer Sebastian Lacson said this year’s run will be bigger because the event is co-organized by the Cebu Provincial Government as a highlight of the month-long celebration of Cebu Province’s 442nd founding anniversary.

RACE SINGLET. Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia with the race singlet for the Capitol-Aboitiz Race to Reduce Challenge on August 14. With the governor in yesterday’s launching are Liloan Mayor Duke Frasco (left) and Aboitiz Equity Ventures, Inc. (AEV) chief reputation officer Sebastian Lacson. Click to enlarge. (PHOTO BY MARLEN LIMPAG)

RACE SINGLET. Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia with the race singlet for the Capitol-Aboitiz Race to Reduce Challenge on August 14. With the governor in yesterday’s launching are Liloan Mayor Duke Frasco (left) and Aboitiz Equity Ventures, Inc. (AEV) chief reputation officer Sebastian Lacson. Click to enlarge. (PHOTO BY MARLEN LIMPAG)

In their staging of the event last year, Aboitiz was able to gather more than 2,000 runners. In this year’s staging of the run, Lacson said they are targeting 5,000 runners to join.

The run will be held on August 14 at the Cebu International Convention Center (CICC) at the North Reclamation Area in Mandaue City. It will have 3K, 5K, 10K, 21K and 42K categories.

For the first time in a race, organizers will be offering several registration options that include the choice of not having a singlet, which Lacson said they are encouraging. “Most runners prefer to wear their own running shirts because they are already comfortable with it,” he said in the press conference.

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Running electrifies VECO

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Running has become a passion of the Visayan Electric Co. (VECO). Proof of this is the organization of the 110-member VECO Power Runners.

A core member, Judith Ocana of the Community Relations Department, is fast proving to be VECO’s running queen with top-five finishes in three races the past three months. Her latest victory was second place in the 5-kilometer Alumni division of the 1st Recoletos Run last Aug. 29 with a time of under 23 minutes.

VECO POWER RUNNERS. Members of the Visayan Electric Co. running group during the Aboitiz Race to Reduce. CLICK ON PHOTO TO ENLARGE. (CONTRIBUTED PHOTO)

The victory was especially memorable for Judith, who hardly had time to prepare for the race. Judith and the Community Relations Department have of late been busy with numerous Corporate Social Responsibility projects.

In the Aboitiz Race to Reduce Challenge, Judith clocked in at a shade over 23 minutes, which is good enough for fifth place. VECO was the biggest and loudest delegation in the race with 105 registered runners.

Four female VECO Power Runners finished in the top 10 of the Aboitiz Group 3k category. Jary Sibonghanoy of the Power Metering Department (PMD) was at first, Shynn Limpangug of the Business Solutions Department came in second, while Meh Yuamador of the Customer Service Group and Lorie Alvarez of PMD were in fourth and fifth place, respectively.

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Endurance sports mold character: Basti Lacson

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Endurance sports mold character, Aboitiz Equity Ventures chief reputation officer Sebastian “Basti” Lacson told runners gathered in the Sun.Star Cebu central newsroom last Friday.

“I think endurance sports are formers of character. You go on even if your body tells you to stop. You wake up at 4 in the morning even if your body tells you to sleep,” said Lacson.

BASTI LACSON. The Aboitiz Equity Ventures Inc. chief reputations officer gets his exclusive ungo shirt with glow-in-the-dark paint from Michelle So, Sun.Star Cebu executive editor, Sun.Star Superbalita editor-in-chief and Sun.Star Running Club muse. Click on photo to enlarge. (SUN.STAR FOTO ALEX BADAYOS USED WITH PERMISSION)

Endurance is something Lacson has plenty of. While finishing his master’s degree in Spain, he finished the Barcelona marathon in 1995 in three hours and 56 minutes. He finished “a couple” of half-marathons after it.

He insists that he not be called a triathlete because he was “only able to finish a couple of triathlons.”

But on Oct. 6, 1996, he crossed the Strait of Gibraltar with two companions, Spaniards Gonzalo Ceballos and Pedro Vernis, by swimming for five hours and 19 minutes from the town of Tarifa in Cadiz, Spain to Punta Marroqui, Morocco.

“It was a great experience. I was scared of the water and I conquered my physical and mental handicap,” he said.

Lacson, a former team captain of the Ateneo Blue Eagles who played with Vince Hizon and Eric Reyes, said he has always been into sports.

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