Bigger, ‘more festive’ Cebu Marathon unfolds Sunday

Kenneth Casquejo of CERC President answer question from the media regarding CEBU 2018 MARATHON PRESSCON/JAN.08,2018:Cebu 2018 Marathon during their press conference at Cebu Grand Hotel with them is Meyrick Jacalan CERC (1st from left), John Pages CERC (2nd from left) and Joel Juarez CERC (1st from right).(CDN PHOTO/LITO TECSON)

The Cebu Executive Runners Club (CERC) made a promise last year to bring back the excitement and the festive atmosphere that the annual Cebu Marathon was famous for.

And the Cebu running community responded to that promise with a record number of participants for this Sunday’s race that will kick off at the Cebu Business Park.

A total of 5,081 runners, a thousand more than last year’s number, will answer the starting gun in the 11th edition of one of Cebu’s most anticipated races which, starting this year, will be handled solely by the CERC. The group parted ways with the Manila-based RunRio of race organizer and coach Rio Dela Cruz after last year’s edition. RunRio handled the technical side of the run for four years.

CERC President Kenneth Casquejo announced that 1,895 runners will join the 42-kilometer full marathon compared to last year’s 1,100 while 2,200 will run the 21k distance. The 10k race has 446 runners while 540 enlisted in the 5k distance.

“It’s a record number for us,” declared Casquejo in a press conference yesterday at the Cebu Grand Hotel. “We promised the runners that it’s going to be festive this year and we will make sure it’s going to be very festive.”

Some 36 foreign runners are also joining the race.

Organizers refused to disclose the details on how they will make this year’s race more festive saying they want to surprise the runners on race day.

“We are not going to announce but we prepared something that will surely make the runners happy. It’s going to be a surprise. We will make sure that this year’s Cebu Marathon will be very festive and fun-filled,” CERC official Joel Juarez said.

The run will have 16 water stations manned by various volunteers from running groups and race sponsors. Each water station will also serve food with a sound system playing the Sinulog beat.

A total of P419,000 in cash will be given to the winning runners in each distance.

To ensure the safety of the runners, the CERC will deploy 177 Philippine National Police (PNP) personnel from the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) at the race venue and route as well as barangay tanods from the 18 barangays covered by the official route.

The City Traffic Operations Management (Citom) will deploy around a hundred traffic enforcers while the Emergency Rescue Unit Foundation (Eruf), the All-terrain Medical Relief Organization (Amro) and other medical and emergency agencies in Cebu will provide medical assistance. A total of 18 ambulances will be on standby during the race.

Casquejo also announced that the race kit claiming will be transferred from Ayala Center Cebu to the Vibo Place along Escario St., on Wednesday until Saturday from 12 noon to 8 p.m. He added that they will be posting traffic advisories through social media and local dailies in the coming days.