Friday, July 13, 2007 CCSC eyes Boston marathon for Cebu
BOSTON has the world’s oldest annual marathon. New York holds the reputation of having the biggest. These two, with Singapore, Hong Kong and Bangkok have been known to have attracted thousands annually, not for tourism, but for their marathons.
To belong with this group is Cebu’s goal. The Cebu City Sports Commission (CCSC) hopes Cebu will be placed in the calendars of the world’s marathon racers. One these thousands of runners look forward to every year.
To be used as a springboard for this will be the Sept. 9 Osmeña Run, a half marathon. Aside from the 21-kilometer race, it will also feature the 10K and 5K runs.
“This will be the stepping stone in preparation for a full marathon in January,” said newly-installed commissioner John Pages after CCSC got back into action yesterday.
Long term
“We want it to be a long-term race, where foreign runners will look forward to joining every year just like those in the major cities of Asia,” said Pages.
The attempt to become like the Asian neighbors is part of the CCSC’s newly-hatched plan to have a three-year strategic program for the city’s sports.
“Instead of meeting every week to plan about projects for the coming week or for the coming month, we decided that it is better to have a long-term plan,” said Pages.
Pages added that they want to come up with a full marathon that the city itself spearheads.
“We already have a score of marathons before but these are mostly organized by other groups,” Pages added.
Pages is ecstatic that, other than addressing the backlog of requests from barangays for sports equipment, a lot of plans were discussed in the meeting.
“The next thing we need to do now is the implementation of all these,” Pages said.
The meeting was attended by the top honchos of the CCSC, including councilors Jack Jakosalem and Raul Alcoseba with commissioners Calixto Pacquiao, Nimrod Quiñones, Rolly Diorico, Dr. Danilo Villadolid and Gene Faelnar.
Councilor Gerardo Carillo also attended for the first time. Carillo replaced Joy Pequera in the council’s committee on education.
“I have known and respected all these people and it feels good to work with them in the name of sports,” Pages added.
The commission failed to hold their weekly sessions after the elections, while Pages was appointed commissioner replacing Michael Aldeguer. (MCB)
