Danao City will host next year’s Xterra Off-Road Triathlon after perennial host Albay begged off from staging the annual international triathlon.
Sunrise Events Inc. (SEI), the race organizer headed by its General Manager Princess Galura, met with Fifth District representative Congressman Ramon “Red” Durano VI, Cebu Provincial Administrator Atty. Mark Tolentino and Cebu Provincial Sports Commission vice chairman Miguel Magpale yesterday to plan Danao City’s hosting on April 23, 2017.
Albay hosted the race in 2015 and 2016 after signing a three-year contract with SEI.
Galura refused to cite any reason why Albay decided to cancel its hosting next year. She, however, is very excited on Xterra’s return to Cebu.
The municipality of Liloan, a neighboring town of Danao City, hosted the race for four straight years starting 2011.
“I called Mark Tolentino and asked him if Cebu is interested in bringing back Xterra because he told me that the province wants to promote cities and municipalities for tourism purposes. We discovered that Danao City is very suitable to host Xterra,” Galura told CDN.
The City is also set to host next year’s Palarong Pambansa and an international mountain bike competition.
“We have already promoted cities here during the Cobra Ironman 70.3 and it’s time for smaller cities and towns to be on the spotlight,” added Galura. “At first it’s very hard to find a venue in Cebu because the provincial roads are narrow and we can’t block them; otherwise the local residents will be greatly inconvenienced, until we found Danao City.”
She revealed that she and Cong. Durano VI, Tolentino and Magpale had a very fruitful discussion about the race. Their main focus is to promote tourism via the off-road triathlon race.
But despite the initial excitement about the planned hosting, Galura is wary about the lack of hotels in Danao. She is planning to coordinate with Tolentino in tapping neighboring towns for hotels and resorts. The Xterra race is usually participated by 400-600 triathletes who are mostly foreigners.
The race features a 1.5-kilometer swim, 35k off-road bike and 10k trail run.
Galura is also planning to add a duathlon category.