Up to 6,000 runners are expected to take over the streets of Davao City on Aug. 15 as the Singlife Davao Marathon brings an international-standard road race to the city on the eve of the culmination of the Kadayawan Festival.
The race, the fifth leg of the eight-race Singlife Philippine Marathon Majors, will feature 5-kilometer, 10K, 21K, and 42K categories, with all distances starting and finishing at SM Lanang.
RunRio Inc. president and CEO Rio dela Cruz said organizers are targeting 4,000 to 6,000 participants from across the Philippines and abroad, including elite runners chasing personal bests, national records, and qualifying times for major international races.
“We really want to showcase Davao so that we can attract more,” dela Cruz said during the marathon’s media launch on Wednesday, July 15, at the SMX Convention Center Davao.
Dela Cruz said organizers deliberately scheduled the race during the Kadayawan season to give visiting runners a chance to experience Davao City’s biggest festival while helping position the city as a sports tourism destination.
“We really want them to experience that there are more beautiful places not only in Metro Manila but in different cities and provinces,” he said in Filipino
The Davao race follows marathon legs in Makati, Iloilo, Manila, and Cebu, which drew nearly 13,000, 3,000, 25,000, and 3,500 participants, respectively. The series will continue in Clark on Sept. 20 before moving to its remaining races, including the Cagayan de Oro Marathon in December.
Dela Cruz said the Manila Marathon attracted about 300 to 400 foreign runners, demonstrating the potential of road races to draw international visitors and generate spending on hotels, restaurants, transportation, and other businesses.
He said organizers hope to replicate that economic impact in Davao.
“When we did our race, the hotel accommodations were sold out, and then a lot of people were eating in the restaurants. A lot of runners from different cities and provinces traveled to Manila,” dela Cruz said of the Manila leg. “That means people are spending. Their money is going around.”
While rising airfares remain a challenge for domestic travel, he said organizers are also banking on local and regional tourism and have partnered with hotels to offer discounted accommodations to runners.
A certified course
The 42K course will take runners from SM Lanang through Cabaguio Avenue, Leon Garcia Street, Quezon Boulevard, and the Davao City Coastal Road before turning back toward the finish line.
The 21K race will also traverse part of the coastal road, while the 10K course will reach Quezon Boulevard, and the 5K route will cover Cabaguio Avenue.
Dela Cruz said the course was manually measured by an international measurer from Malaysia under Association of International Marathons and Distance Races, or AIMS, standards, and has received certification from World Athletics. The event is Philippine Athletics Track and Field Association (Patafa)-sanctioned.
The full marathon course measures exactly 42.195 kilometers using the shortest possible route a runner can legally take through the course.
That certification gives the race greater significance for elite and competitive athletes. Dela Cruz said performances at sanctioned races can be recognized for record purposes and used to support qualification for national teams and certain international competitions, subject to the applicable rules and qualifying standards.
“If you have a good performance here, this is what you can base it on. This is really your personal best in the marathon,” he said.
Dela Cruz said national team athletes may compete only in races sanctioned under applicable Patafa regulations, making the Davao Marathon a potential platform for the country’s top runners.
Among those organizers hope to see on the starting line are Mindanao standouts and Southeast Asian Games medalists Sonny Wagdos and Alan Arbois Jr.
Wagdos, a former University of Mindanao athlete from Davao City, owns the Philippine men’s marathon record of 2 hours, 14 minutes, and 32 seconds.
Kinetix Sports president and CEO Kenneth Sai said Mindanao has a deep pool of competitive runners, including athletes from Digos City and General Santos City.
“We have a lot of local runners,” Sai said. “There are also a couple of national team athletes from Mindanao, so I hope they will compete here.”
Safety, timing, and anti-cheating measures
Dela Cruz said organizers will implement common safety and race-management standards across all eight legs of the Philippine Marathon Majors, including hydration stations, marshals, route barriers, and timing checkpoints.
“From our side, as RunRio and, of course, in partnership with Kinetix, we will make sure that the safety and security of our runners will be our top priority,” he said.
The 42K route will provide sports drinks throughout the course, while pacers will help runners pursue specific finishing times.
Organizers will also use radio-frequency identification, or RFID, technology and timing checkpoints every five kilometers to track runners and flag suspicious or incomplete results.
Dela Cruz said race bibs are nontransferable, partly because a runner competing under another person’s identity creates a safety risk during a medical emergency.
“If something happens to the runner and the name is not theirs, the information that we will pick up on that person is different,” he said.
The system can also detect discrepancies when, for example, a runner registered in one category is replaced by someone else. Visual judges will help monitor participants at the finish line and other key points.
“It is unfair to the runners who really trained,” dela Cruz said.
Insurance before, during, and after the race
Singlife Philippines CEO Lester Cruz said every registered runner will automatically receive accident and life insurance coverage worth about ₱50,000, with an option to increase the amount.
Unlike conventional race insurance that may cover only race day, Cruz said the protection will extend to periods before, during, and after the event.
“Whether you’re putting in the miles during training or recovering post-race, you’re protected every step of the way,” Cruz said.
Singlife and RunRio began working together in the second half of 2024, before the launch of the Philippine Marathon Majors. Cruz said the partnership goes beyond promoting running and seeks to build communities while expanding awareness of financial protection.
“We see ourselves in every runner,” Cruz said. “Training for a marathon requires not just physical strength. It requires mental toughness, sacrifice, and unwavering belief in yourself.”
He compared the discipline required to finish a marathon with the patience and consistency needed to build financial security.
“Financial wellness isn’t achieved overnight. It takes patience, consistency, and courage to keep going even when progress feels slow,” he said.
Cruz said Singlife wants to make insurance more accessible to Filipinos and challenge the perception that financial protection is expensive or reserved for the wealthy.
More than a race
The Davao Marathon forms part of RunRio’s effort to build a Philippine counterpart inspired by the world’s major marathon series while using road running to promote destinations beyond Metro Manila.
The eight-race series allows runners to complete all legs over multiple years and eventually earn a special medal.
“Not necessarily do they have to complete this for this year. They can complete this next year,” dela Cruz said.
Organizers said the series also offers substantial cash incentives for elite runners, with separate international and local categories in the 42K event. Local runners can win prizes down to the top 10, while international prizes extend to the top five, subject to minimum performance standards.
Dela Cruz said each race offers about ₱1.2 million in cash prizes, bringing the total purse across the eight-event series to nearly ₱10 million.
The 21K and 42K races will have international and local categories, while the 5K and 10K prize categories are reserved for local runners. Foreign participants may still enter the shorter distances, but will not be eligible for cash prizes in those categories.
Every race also features a car raffle open to eligible participants, giving recreational runners a chance to win regardless of their finishing time.
For dela Cruz, however, the larger goal is to give runners across the Philippines access to the standards and experience associated with major international road races.
“For our runners who can’t travel, we really want them to feel that this is how international races work,” he said.
He said the running boom is no longer confined to Metro Manila, with increasingly active communities emerging across the country.
“This is not only for RunRio, this is not only for Kinetix, or this is not only for anyone, but this is actually for our country,” dela Cruz said. “We are promoting our sports tourism. We really want to promote our provinces and cities.”
The Davao leg comes at a particularly festive time, with runners arriving as the city celebrates Kadayawan, allowing participants to combine competition with a taste of Davao’s culture and hospitality.
For Cruz, the race also gives Davao’s growing running community a major event of its own.
“This marathon is our way of honoring the runners here who have long deserved a world-class event to call their own,” he said. “This is your own.”
RunRio, Singlife Philippines, and Kinetix Sports formally sealed their partnership during Wednesday’s media launch with SM Supermalls Senior Assistant Vice President for Marketing Operations Russel D. Alaba as a witness to their memorandum of agreement (MOA) signing.
Regular registration fees are ₱1,635 for the 5K, ₱1,835 for the 10K, ₱2,635 for the 21K, and ₱3,035 for the 42K.
Registered participants will receive a race singlet, bib, medal, loot bag, and towel, while 21K and 42K participants will also receive a finisher’s shirt.
The race will push through rain or shine, subject to safety protocols and severe weather conditions.
As thousands of runners gather at the starting line on Aug. 15, organizers hope their footsteps will carry a message beyond the finish line: that Davao can compete for a place on the country’s growing map of world-class running destinations. MLSA WITH Cathy Jane Orias/Spamast, SunStar Intern