2nd All-Women Ultra Marathon wraps up today

IN celebration of the International Women's Day last Friday, 150 women took up the challenge of running a 50-kilometer route.

Last night, the second year of the All-Women Ultra Marathon started at the Plaza Independencia and will finish today, under a 10-hour cutoff, at Cebu White Sands.

Organized by the ultra runners of Think Tankers, the run is a collaborative effort of the Cebu running community.

There were 49 men marshals, 27 running clubs and 100 volunteers who manned the entire route.

These 27 clubs were assigned at designated key points of the route, which was different from that of last year.

This year, the route covered 27 barangays, three cities and two towns.

Pacers, mobile support and support vehicles were strictly prohibited and there were secret marshals in place.

"You won't have any problem with the hydration stations because we have more than enough," said organizer Joel Garganera.

The first hydration station will be in the first 5 kilometers, while the succeeding ones will be every two kilometers.

Organizers decided to have a cutoff per station in consideration of the people in charge so they won’t have to wait too long.

The station for kilometer 5, for example will pack up at 11:10 p.m. and kilometer 29 in Consolacion will close at 3:45 a.m.

"But this is not a hard rule, we still give the discretion to the running clubs if they want to wait even beyond the pack-up time," said Willie Estepa, who measured the new route this year.

Since last year's champion Merlita Arias Dunkin will be missing this race, a new queen is expected to be crowned and be given the scepter.

Top contenders for this race will include Preciousa Sanchez, Jade Abellana, Rhoda Oporto and Sandra Sollano.