A good weather and a safe and memorable race are what organizers of tomorrow’s 10th Cebu City Marathon are praying for. The race will start and finish at the Cebu Business Park.
John Pages, the former head of the organizing Cebu Executives Runners Club (CERC), said that foreign and local runners have already arrived here to join the race which has four distances and held as part of the month-long celebration of the Sinulog Festival.
“We are excited with the arrival of hundreds of foreign and local runners. We pray for good, cloudy weather tomorrow and for the safety of all participants. RunRio and CERC have coordinated with the police, traffic personnel, hospitals, local government units and our sponsors like Ayala Center, to ensure a successful race,” said Pages.
The race features 42-kilometer, 21k, 10k and 5k distances.
For the first time in its 10-year existence, the Cebu City Marathon will have a new route, which passes through the cities of Cebu, Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu. Previously, the route of the race passed through the Cebu South Coastal Road.
4,000 runners
Partial road closures will be implemented in all the roads covered by the route from 3 a.m. to 10 a.m. so as not to inconvenience motorists. The Marcelo Fernan Bridge will also be opened to traffic, said organizers, who urged the public to come out and cheer for the participants.
Pages estimated around 4,000 runners to answer the starting gun tomorrow and expected this number to rise until race day since registration is still ongoing in the shorter 5k and 10k distances.
Around 1,400 and 1,700 runners have enlisted in the 42k and 21k, respectively, while the rest of the 4,000 enlistees are joining the shorter distances.
Added security
To ensure safety of the runners, Pages said they have already coordinated with the Central Command of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and have deployed K9 units and personnel. They also requested uniformed and non-uniformed PNP personnel and village watchmen for added security.
Meanwhile, according to the latest weather forecast in accuweather.com, Sunday has a 75 percent precipitation and a big chance of rain in the morning.