Pages: Cebu Marathon runs on Jan. 13, 2013
-A A +ASaturday, October 20, 2012
THE 2013 edition of the Cebu Marathon is now, to borrow the cliche, “off and running.”
The date: 01-13-13. And, just like it has been for the past six years when it was called the “Sinulog Half-Marathon,” this event is held one week before the country’s largest party, the Sinulog.
There are plenty of similarities between the 2012 and 2013 editions. Three distances are being offered: 5K, 21K and 42K. The start and finish lines will still be at the heart of the Cebu I.T. Park in Lahug. Runners trekking the half- and full-marathons still get to experience, on foot, the sights and lights of Cebu’s most famous landmarks: Magellan’s Cross, Plaza Independencia, Colon Street, Osmeña Boulevard, the South Road Properties (SRP), the Provincial Capitol, and, of course, runners will run underneath the land via the one-kilometer-long SRP Tunnel. Exciting!
Registration is open at www.cebumarathon.com. For now, only online registrants will be accepted. With the onsite registration at the Active Zone of the Ayala Center Cebu, this will begin on Nov. 9.
What’s new? The medal. After the famous “mango medals” have reached three mangoes (last year was the third 42K edition), the organizers have decided that the mango has fully ripened. It’s time for a change. A new medal -- a top-secret design that only Meyrick Jacalan knows -- will be unveiled soon.
New Balance singlets will be given. So will the timing chips. And, as is the signature act of the Cebu Marathon, a grand “Carbo-Loading Party” at The Terraces of Ayala Center will rev all the internal engines of the participants -- hours before gun start.
Best of all, the entertainment on each of the 11 water stations along the route will be fantastic. No other marathon on this archipelago has more tribal beats, bands, Pit Señor dancers, loud-banging music than Cebu’s marathon. Register now!
ARMSTRONG. You know what the only thing lacking is with this whole Lance Armstrong story?
A confession. Yes. A press conference where he admits his wrongdoings. This will be painful. Remember the hundreds of times when he swore not having swallowed bad medicine? Well, he’ll have to swallow his pride this time. If this were a winding Tour de France road, the dead-end has arrived.
What other options does Armstrong have? Nike has abandoned him. So has Trek. As have almost all other companies who’ve revered the cancer survivor.
Lance has to come clean. It’s the only thing left to do. Because, you know what, as castigated as he’ll be by the entire world, there’s still a lot of good left inside Lance. Look at the help he’s extended to the cancer community. Livestrong has raised $500 million; he’s helped 2.5 million people who have cancer-related concerns. That’s a lot of money. That’s a lot of people he’s uplifted.
The true measure of success, it’s been said, is found in how high a person bounces after falling. Lance has fallen. I hope he bounces back to tell the truth.
MILO OLYMPICS. As you read this, hundreds of us from “Team Visayas” are in Marikina (Metro Manila) to join the Milo Little Olympics. The weekend-long event started last Friday with an opening ceremony. Games began yesterday and continue today. The closing ceremony is late this afternoon.
I’m here as head coach of our Bright Academy tennis high school team. Our players: my daughter Jana and her teammates Shyne Villareal, Anday Alferez and Stephanie Kim.
Last Friday night, with Ricky Ballesteros leading our Visayas delegation, we were at the Rizal Sports Park. Their complex is huge. Much like our CCSC but their grandstand is bigger – there are two grandstands facing each other with the track oval and football field sandwiched in the middle. When Ryan Aznar, Marian Baring and I sat on the maroon-colored rubberized oval, it looked in terrific shape.
The National Milo Little Olympics opening was spectacular. Three large projector screens broadcasted the performances. The rafters were jampacked with students. Strobe lights danced. Fireworks brightened the night.
(www.pages.ph)
Published in the Sun.Star Cebu newspaper on October 21, 2012.
Sports
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