DEFENDING champion Elias Tabac sets his eyes to be the first ever back-to-back champion when the Visit Davao Summer Festival and the local government unit (LGU) of Sta. Cruz-organized 10th Mt. Apo Boulder Face Challenge that opens Saturday in Sta. Cruz, Davao del Sur.
Tabac, 24, from Bayugan City, Agusan del Sur, will try to guard the individual open elite title against 34 other contenders in the 107.1- kilometer race in the vicinity of Mt. Apo.
"I cannot say anything until the race is done but I will do my best," Tabac said in Friday's press conference at the Recreational Outdoor eXchange (ROX) in Abreeza Mall.
Tabac will engage in the 5-kilometer water tubing, 36.6km mountain biking, 53.5km trail running and 12km road running with former Boulder Face Challenge champions and rated local racers including Dexter Nonato, Jong Mahinay, Christopher Eyao and Marcial Catandi.
The heavy-favorite racer carries all the pressure especially that he finished last year’s race with a record of 12 hours and Julius Paner, tourism officer of Sta. Cruz, said "No one ever defended their title in the Boulder Face Challenge."
A total of 90 participants are set to race Saturday, April 21.
Thirty-five participants will join in the open elite category while 55 participants entered in the relay event.
The Boulder Face challenge was established in 2008 to promote the eco-adventure tourism in Sta. Cruz, Davao del Sur. It was the major highlight of the LGU's traditional occasion Pista sa Kinaiyahan.
It also forms part of Sta Cruz's advocacy to preserve, protect and rehabilitate Mt. Apo, being a key biodiversity area and an abode of the indigenous cultural communities.