THE great importance of physical fitness had been promoted in the ongoing Higalaay Festival.
Entering its third week, the Higalaay Festival of Cagayan de Oro welcomes hundreds of participants from the city’s schools, offices and organizations in the Kagay-an Festival Marathon on Sunday, August 20.
They gathered early at the Centrio Ayala Mall area to register for the marathon.
The event’s main purpose was to encourage health and fitness to every Kagay-anon even with all the fun and celebration of the Higalaay craze is bringing.
Firstly at 4 a.m., the registered marathon participants had a Zumba session. Many of the participants were thrilled by the dance moves of the session and waved their bodies with the music before starting off with the marathon.
The call for the line-up was made about an hour after the start of the registration. The eager participants stretched and readied themselves with the chill of the early morning Cagayan de Oro atmosphere.
Ely Amoroso, 30, went with his workmates to the marathon.
He said that this campaign by the Festival for fitness and health is a very good balancing act amid all the celebrations of the Higalaay fest.
"Kay pag fiesta of course, naa man gud nang mangaon tag medyo more than usual right? So karon, aside from being an exciting activity, makatabang ni sa mga Kagay-anon (Of course, during fiestas, there will always be food and we will eat more than usual right, so now, aside from being an exciting activity, this can help Kagay-anons)," he said.
After an hour, the marathoners were able to go back to the finish line. Each were given medals as an award for participating in the event.
With the success of the marathon, the organizers said that next year's Higalaay festival may arrange another marathon which will hopefully encourage more participants.