THE countdown for Cebu Marathon 2024 started Wednesday, July 19, 2023, as representatives from the Cebu Executive Runners Club (CERC) unveiled the many firsts’ athletes and participants will experience on January 14, 2024.
John Owen Zaldarriaga Pages, CERC representative and Cebu City Sports Complex (CCSC) chairman, announced during the launching Wednesday, July 19, the new race distances and surprises they have prepared exclusively for the runners participating in Cebu Marathon 2024.
“Let’s start with our distances, we are making it different. We are going to have four distances starting, of course, with 42K and instead with the 21K, since it’s 2024, we are going to have a 24K,” said Pages.
He added that to pose an extra challenge to the runners, the events’ organizers have changed the usual 10K and 5K to 12K and 6K, accordingly, to complete the new four offered race distances.
Among the many firsts, Pages also mentioned their partnership with Salt Plus Fin, a local sportswear brand in Cebu, where all registered participants will receive jerseys.
Also, finishers of the 42K and 24K races will get a towel and medal at the finish line, a similar gesture to Ironman events where towels are handed out after the race.
Registration and rates
Online registration will start on July 22, 2023 at their official website: cebumarathon.com.ph.
Meyrick Jacalan, a CERC representative, said an early bird rate will be granted until September 30, 2023. It will be open to all race distances.
Jacalan added that the early bird rates will start at P1,999 for 42K, P1,799 for 24K, and P799 for both 12K and 6K.
On October 1, regular charges will start at P2,499 for 42K, P2,299 for 24K, and P999 for both 12K and 6K.
Special freebies will also be given to runners, such as medals, towels, and t-shirts, while the first 1,024 registrants of the 42K and 24K category will be given free premium visors.
Routes
Familiar but this time a brand-new series of routes will serve the marathoners, said Pages.
For the 42K distance, runners will be treated to a combination of iconic spots in Cebu, from Plaza Independencia, Colon Streets, Magellan's Cross, Fuente Osmeña, the Capitol and Cebu Cordova Link Expressway (CCLEX).
The CERC board also decided to unfold the routes as early as possible to give a head start for attendees to train in advance.
They will start the marathon at 12:24 a.m. to avoid the traffic congestion and to allow marathoners to begin their race in comfortable weather.
The organizers chose to launch the event six months prior to allow the participants to have a longer time to prepare themselves for the competition.
‘Easy in mind, hard in reality’
Jesse Taborada, president of CERC, said many marathoners underestimate the demand of joining a marathon -- it costs long training, discipline, and diet check.
“If you cut corners, you may have problems and difficulties along the way, not to mention the accidents that can come along the way,” said Taborada.
Kats Cajucom of AIA Vitality, a major partner of the Cebu Marathon organizer, also shared her advice to the participants with regards to an athlete's food intake.
“It takes longer to prepare and it really requires discipline to run a marathon, not only physically but mentally and even the food that you eat,” said Cajucom.
“I think in the training you really learn how to be disciplined,” she added.
In the same way they are preparing for the event, she urged the participants to have month-long preparation to at least train their body to become accustomed to longer distances. (Denise Mae Codis and Claudine Flores, CNU interns)