ORGANIZERS expect a bigger turnout when the 4th Arthro Cebu Mountain Trail Run blasts off at the Haarlemmermeer Bridge in Guadalupe on May 31.

Race director Raffy Uytiepo said they are expecting around 400 runners from the different running clubs in Cebu for the fourth edition of the unique race.

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“This is a nature run. No traffic, no pollution, not even the heat of the sun could hamper the runners. And at the summit, on your way back to the finish line, you can see the entire Cebu City landscape,” Uytiepo said during the press conference at the Robinson’s Place Activity Center yesterday.

Top runners including Leiszl Gitaruelas, siblings Eugene and Joel Delposo, Philipp Dueñas and Madelyn Carter are expected to join the race. The reigning Sinulog 10K winner, Mary Grace de los Santos of Zamboanga City, is also expected to join the event.

“Only about 50 meters of the route is paved. The rest is all rough road. The route is about seven kilometers, but it’s a very difficult seven kilometers. Aside from the stony trail, the uphill and downhill climbs are very difficult. That is why we named this a trail run. For once, we try to do away with the usual runs on the roads,” said Uytiepo.

The winners in the Men’s and Women’s Open will get P3,000 each, second placers will get P2,000 and P1,000 will be given to the third placers.

The fourth to the 10th placers will get P200 each.

Uytiepo was joined by assistant technical director Joel Juarez of the Cebu Executive Runners Club, Magno Bertulfo of Pryce Gas and runner Madelyn Carter.