On the run in the beautiful island
Posts tagged Raffy Uytiepo
Semantics
Jul 21st
Organizers of the Pilipinas International Marathon (PIM) are standing their ground. Not only are they not going to reschedule their event, which, admittedly, is understandable, they insist that a 25-kilometer race, by Patafa diktat, is a marathon. Pataka (nonsense).
“It is already accepted worldwide, even by the International Association of Marathons; they also accepted that they can use marathon as their ‘lingo’ if it goes beyond 21K and there is a 25K marathon,” International Pharmaceuticals Inc. advertising manager Tito Dela Merced was quoted as saying in a Sun.Star Cebu report on Saturday.
The debate on the use of the term might be getting tiresome but it is necessary. Standards are important for any sport. They are the foundation for records on which we gauge performances. A key component of any set of standards is the correct usage of technical terms.
Superman
Mar 16th
It was an invitation few runners are lucky to get.
Veteran runner Raffy Uytiepo sent me a text message last Wednesday to ask whether I would like to join organizers Noy Jopson and Hembler Mendoza run the route they were considering for The Great Lapu-Lapu Run on April 18.
WITH NOY JOPSON. Running with Noy Jopson and Hembler Mendoza (left) to map out the route of The Great Lapu-Lapu Run. (FOTO BY MARLEN LIMPAG)As soon as I read the words join, Noy Jopson and run, I immediately hit the phone’s reply button and said “YES!!!! What time?”
Several minutes later, I realized the full implication of the invitation.
Noy Jopson is The Ironman. He is the Philippine 70.3 Ironman Champion. He has three national triathlon titles. He won the Asian Cup Junior trophy in 1995, the bronze and silver medals at the Asian Championships and the Philippine Enduraman. I’m an overweight journalist barely a year into running. It was like Ronaldinho deciding to play pickup 1-on-1 football with an elementary school kid.
Great Lapu-Lapu Run to use timing chips for 21K, 10K races; winners to be sent to Hong Kong
Feb 14th
Organizers of the Great Lapu-Lapu Run will be using timing chips for the 21K and 10K races that will be held in Lapu-Lapu City on April 18. The run will also have 5K and 3K races but only 21K and 10K participants will use the timing chips.
The race is organized by the Lapu-Lapu City Government and the Lapu Lapu City Tourism Cultural and Historical Commission.
This year’s edition of the race is being organized by elite triathlete Noy Jopson and veteran runner and race director Raffy Uytiepo.
GREAT LAPU-LAPU RUN. The Great Lapu-Lapu Run will be using RFID chips to time runners of its 21K and 10K races. The website printed above, however, is still not live.
Quota International to hold 12K, 6K races
Feb 12th
A women’s civic group in Cebu is organizing a fun run to raise funds for children with hearing, speech and sight impairments.
Quota International-Cebu South will be staging a 12-kilometer and 6-kilometer race on March 7 at The Terraces, Ayala Center Cebu. (Interactive race map available at the end of this article.)
Kenyan missionary tops Lahug Running MAD 2
Nov 22nd
Kenyan missionary Simon Losiaboi extended his dominance of Cebu City races by topping the 12-kilometer run of Barangay Lahug’s Running MAD 2 this morning.
Losiaboi finished in a blistering time of 41:05:50 the course that started at University of the Philippines Cebu College and went past JY Square, Waterfront Cebu City Hotel, Gaisano Country Mall and BTC in Banilad, General Maxilom Ave., Fuente, Capitol and back to UP Cebu. Losiaboi won P3,000 for his top finish. (For an interactive map of the route, read our previous article)
Barangay Lahug to stage 3K, 6k, and 12K runs in Running MAD 2
Nov 6th
SIX months after holding its inaugural run, Barangay Lahug will hold Running MAD 2 on Nov. 22 at 5:45 a.m., officials announced in a press conference yesterday afternoon. The event will hold races for 3 kilometers, 6K and 12K.
Lahug Barangay Captain Mary Ann de los Santos said the run is meant to encourage people to adopt a fit and active lifestyle.
Rening Ylaya: At 73, going 42
Nov 2nd
The names of places come out in a staccato, wheezing whisper barely heard through the disco music booming from large speakers at the Cebu City Sports Center (CCSC) track oval.
“Marawi-Iligan, Cagay-an, Davao, Cagay-an, Manila, Cebu…,” Ireneo “Rening” Ylaya recites like a mantra—in a strained asthmatic’s voice—the places where he ran marathons. He says the names in the order that he ran them, going back to “Marawi-Iligan” when he skips a place and slapping his forehead while apologizing for forgetting. “Tiguwang na lagi (I’m getting old),” he said with a sheepish smile.
Cagayan de Oro? I asked Rening on what was probably the 6th lap of our interview while jogging around the CCSC track oval, where he is a fixture.
RENING YLAYA. The Cebu City Sports Center fixture keeps telling people, “if an old man like me can do it, how much more young people like you.” (Photo by Marlen Limpag) CLICK ON PHOTO TO ENLARGE “Cagay-an de Oro. Didn’t I tell you? It’s the best marathon route I’ve run and I did it in 4:26 (four hours and 26 minutes), my fastest marathon time,” Ylaya said in Bisaya, barely breaking a sweat while I slowed down to catch my breath.
A stocky jogger then passed us, catching Ylaya’s attention. “A couple of years back,” he told me in Bisaya, pointing at the jogger with his chin, “I wouldn’t have let that pass. I would have run him down. Not the top runners, I couldn’t keep up with them, but the regular joggers. I would have never allowed him to overtake.”
He then went ahead a few steps to tap the shoulder of a female brisk walker and tell her, “Lane 5, lane 5. Walkers use lane 5, 6, 7.”
