On the run in the beautiful island
Posts tagged Citom
Above all else, safety
Jul 28th
In a different world, the disembodied hand of my mother would have emerged from the phone receiver to pinch my ear.
“Nasobrahan na ka ug dagan (you’re running too much),” she said in a testy voice that still couldn’t hide her concern.
RUN SAFE. To run safe at night, choose well-lit roads or run with a large group. If you want to to try running at night, join the weekly ungo run every Friday at 10 p.m. from the Sun.Star Cebu office to the It Park.She had known through Facebook that I was nursing a fever and called me up on a Friday, the day that I organize a weekly run from Sun.Star Cebu to the IT Park, to tell me I should scale down on my running.
“Mangaligsan gani mo (you’ll be run over),” a teenager said with a laugh after taking a drag of cigarette and blowing a puff of smoke at the sidewalk while watching scores of runners in one of the Friday night runs that I organize from the Sun.Star Cebu office to the IT Park.
Recent incidents have raised questions on the safety of the fastest growing sport in the country. Fatalities have been reported in the Milo Marathon in Manila and a recent night run in Mandaue City.
Friends express worry on the risks of running on the road, especially at night. They express their concern with a tone appropriate to someone trying to stop a person from pulling out his own fingernails.
Not to trivialize the risks but more people actually die of illnesses caused by a sedentary lifestyle than by running-related accidents or illnesses.
Citom wants to make Cebu City roads safe for runners, cyclists: Jakosalem
Jun 30th
Meyrick Jacalan was emphatic: Cebu City has a huge potential to be a sports tourism hub similar to what CamSur has become.
We have more hotels and we’re accessible because we have more flights coming and we have shipping services, he said. He recounted the complaints by triathletes on the difficulty of bringing their gear to CamSur for competitions.
But first, he said, pausing to take a sip from his cup of coffee that had been cleared of the dollop of whipped cream placed there by mistake, let’s make our city’s streets safe for runners and bikers.
SAFER ROADS. Cebu City Marathon organizers Meyrick Jacalan (left) and John Pages (center) of the Cebu Executive Runners Club with outgoing Cebu City Councilor Sylvan “Jack” Jakosalem, who has been named Cebu City Traffic Operations Management chairman. Jakosalem said Citom wants to make Cebu City’s roads safer for runners and cyclists. CLICK TO ENLARGEJacalan, one of the core organizers responsible for the hugely successful staging of the Cebu City Marathon, said Cebu City’s streets aren’t friendly to bikers, runners and even pedestrians.
“Motorists should be taught to share the road with bikers and runners. As a start, we can teach drivers to give importance to runners,” he said, “What’s a few minutes of inconvenience on a Sunday morning to the benefits of a community adopting a healthy lifestyle?”
Local government support
Jacalan said the support of the local government unit is crucial to the success of turning Cebu into a sports tourism hub. He said it’s something Cebu City can offer, citing City Hall’s key role in the success of the Cebu City Marathon.
With the way things are developing at the Cebu City Hall, it looks like things are looking up for the local running scene.
