Friday, June 22, 2007
Habagat to stage tour in 20 cities
HABAGAT, one of the major reasons behind the rise to fame of adventure racing and extreme sports in the region, will celebrate its 20 years of existence with a twist and will stage the Habagat Caravan on June 29.
Onboard two vehicles, one of which is a Volkswagen Combi, the Habagat Caravan crew will have stops in 20 cities all over the country.
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The stops include Manila, Batangas, Iloilo, Bacolod, Dumaguete, Dipolog, Oroqueta, Ozamis, Iligan, Davao, Cagayan de Oro, Butuan, Surigao, Cebu, Tacloban, Sorsogon, Legazpi, Naga, Lucena and Los Baños.
During each stops, the caravan will be setting up an exhibit area, where they will be displaying pictures of Habagat moments in the past 20 years.
Also during these pit stops, the gang will be holding mini-adventure races, to give adventure seekers a glimpse of what Habagat has prepared for this year’s Carrera Habagat.
“It will be the biggest Carrera that we will have, coinciding with our 20th anniversary,” said one of Habaga’st triumvirate, Randy Su.
Milestone
Carrera Habagat, the premier adventure racing in the country, will hit its milestone as it will be on its seventh year. For this year, the race will be staged in the outbacks of the Bukas Grande island off the Surgiao shores in October.
Habagat, which primarily sells outdoor gears, has always been involved in outdoor sports.
“We are capitalists with conscience. We always give back,” said Su.
Habagat takes credit for bringing into the Cebuanos or even the Filipinos’ consciousness sports suchs as sport climbing and the multi-discipline adventure races.
First facility
Habagat also set up the first wall climbing facility in the country, the Vertigo wall climbing center, which is now in Metrosport.
Other than adventure racing and sport climbing, Habagat also focuses its support in four other extreme sports such as caving, mountaineering, mountainbike and kayaking, which are usually incorporated in the events that Habagat host.
Habagat started out of three friends’—Su, Jonx Muana and Dindo Sugatan—passion for outdoors, especially mountain climbing.
However, quality and affordable gears were hard to find in Cebu then, pushing the three to make their own products. What started as making products for their own consumption turned into a huge business venture as orders kept coming in.
Architects by profession, the three then pooled their life savings to start out a business with a mere P4,500 capital from Muana’s garage and with his grandmother’s old sewing machine.
Now, they have branches and outlets scattered all over the country and are now planning to expand in neighboring countries. (MCB)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (June 22, 2007 issue)
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