Sprinters in the elementary girls relay during the 2023 CVIRAA in Carcar City. | Photo from Sugbuanong Kodaker
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Participants of the Central Visayas Regional Athletic Association (CVIRAA) Meet that will be held in Cebu City from May 2 to 9, 2024 will not be exposed to extreme heat.
This was the assurance that officials of the Department of Education in Central Visayas and Cebu City and the Cebu City Sports Commission (CCSC) gave to ensure the well-being of all student athletes.
In a press conference on Monday, CCSC Chairman John Pages, said that no outdoor games will be held from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. during the duration of the CVIRAA.
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“From 9 o’clock in the morning until 3 o’clock in the afternoon, we will not have any games. We’ll try to encourage the outdoor sports games to be held as early as possible, as early as 6 o’clock or pwede ba’g earlier so that we lessen the time sa init nga portion,” Pages said.
Outdoor games
Cebu City Schools Division Superintendent Nimfa Bongo said outdoor events will be scheduled from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. and will resume in the afternoon, from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m.
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Deped-7 Director Salustiano Jimenez said that they will also adopt measures that were implemented in last year’s CVIRAA that was hosted by Carcar City.
“The same situation, because of the heat index that reached even 40 degrees at that time, we were able to manage that. We will be also doing the same strategy here in CVIRAA 2024,” Jimenez said.
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Jimenez said that athletes will be on call as early as 5:30 a.m. so they could also start the games early.
Extreme caution
In a separate interview, Mark Gales, a weather specialist at Pagasa Mactan, said that scorching heat may be felt between 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
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Gales said that extreme heat that falls under the “extreme caution” is felt from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Heat index was also expected to rise during this time of the day.
CVIRAA
Meanwhile, A total of 12,000 delegates are expected to participate in this year’s regional sports competition. Of these, 8,500 are athletes while the rest of their coaches and the other members of their respective delegation.
The CVIRAA’s opening ceremony will be held at the South Road Properties (SRP) in Cebu City. It will start with a parade at 6 p.m.
Organizers said that the opening program and the CVIRAA games will be streamed live on its official Facebook page.
Moreover, Deped personnel are assigned to manage the billeting quarters of the participating athletes while and the Cebu City Medical Center has been designated as the CVIRAA’s referral hospital.
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