Cebu Marathon 2024. Cebu City Mayor Mike Rama (fourth from left) leads the ribbon cutting ceremony of the Cebu Marathon 2024 expo at the SM Seaside City Cebu on Thursday. Joining him were CERC officials, AIA Vitality Philippines head of health and wellness Kats Cajucom (fifth from right), and SM Seaside City Cebu’s regional operations manager, Anton Del Prado (fourth from right). | Glendale Rosal
CEBU CITY, Philippines — The Cebu Executives Runners Club (CERC), the organizers of the annual Cebu Marathon expressed their readiness to hold the major footrace on Sunday, January 14, 2024, that starts and finishes at the SM Seaside City Cebu.
A total of 8,110 runners including foreign runners will test their mettle in this running event usually happening a week before the Sinulog Festival.
READ: 8,110 runners to join Cebu Marathon 2024
“We have a total of 8,110 runners, almost similar to last year, which remained a big number. Last year, we had 8,362 runners because it was the first time in three years after the pandemic to have the Cebu Marathon,” said John Pages, one of the race organizers.
Pages, also the Cebu City Sports Commission (CCSC) Chairman, led the opening of the Cebu Marathon 2024 expo at the SM Seaside City Cebu on Thursday, January 11.
Cebu City Mayor Mike Rama led the ribbon-cutting ceremony to open the expo. Pages and CERC members in Joel Juarez, who is the race director, joined him, and other members such as Meyrick Jacalan, Jesse Taborada, and Raffy Uytiepo.
“We’re happy and excited for the turnout for the participants who are not just from Cebu, but different parts of the world,” added pages.
READ: FACES OF CEBU: Artjoy Torregosa, 24, promising long-distance runner
Cebu landmarks
According to Juarez, one of the best things the runners look forward to in this year’s route is the famous Cebu landmarks they will pass by.
Cebu Marathon has been known for its route which showcases Cebu’s famous landmarks and history which CERC will be bringing back.
While passing by these landmarks, runners are hyped up with festive music and Sinulog dancers on the side of the road.
“For this year we decided to go back to the old route which passes through the iconic landmarks of Cebu City which made this race very popular,” said Juarez.
Half of the road
These landmarks include the Basilica Minore del Sto. Nino, Fuente Osmena Circle, Cebu Provincial Capitol, and the Cebu IT Park.
They assured non-runners that they would only use half of the road covered by the route until 3:00 AM on Sunday. This as the rest of the running event will be held in the South Road Properties wherein the last 18 kilometers will pass through the 8.9-kilometer Cebu-Cordova Link Expressway (CCLEX).
The gun start of the race will be extra early to prevent traffic jams in the morning. The gun start for the 42k is at 12:30 a.m., followed by the 24k at 2:30 a.m. The 12k will kick off at 4:30 a.m, while the 6k is at 5 a.m.