Fifth edition of St. Ignatius Run slated July 17

Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu Batch 1990 president Lowie Dino (left most) together with (left to right) Chikaan’s Derek Dytian, batch vice president Richard Ho, fun run committee chairman Andrew Choachuy of Sunsport and Michael Lim.
(CDN/TONEE DESPOJO)

SACRED Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu’s (SHS-AdC) high school batch 1990 will spearhead the holding of the 5th St. Ignatius Run on July 17 starting at the San Pedro Calungsod template at the South Road Properties.

For this year, proceeds of the running event will be used to construct SHS-AdC’s proposed five-story building called the “Teachers Village” in barangay Canduman, Mandaue City which will be used for free housing of the school’s teachers.

The race, also held in line with the celebration of the feast of SHS-AdC’s patron saint, Saint Ignatius, will offer 21-kilometer, 12k, 6k and 3k distances.

Organizers said they are expecting to draw 2,000 runners to join come race day, most of them SHS-AdC alumni and current students.

Richard Ho, the chief of the organizing committee of the running event, and the rest of the members of Batch 1990 launched the annual footrace yesterday at the Chikaan in Lahug.

They were joined by veteran race director Joel Juarez of Coco Running.

Organizers said they are doing their best to make the race enjoyable.

Raffle prizes will be given for the non-winners while a grill-out will also be offered after the race, which is also part of the school’s silver jubilee celebration.

“We aim to make this running event enjoyable for the participants. That’s why we came up with the idea of treating them with a grill-out after the race,” Ho said. “We will give runners freshly cooked barbecue, bread and refreshments, and we will also raffle out exciting prizes for the non-winners and cash prizes for the winning runners.”

A total of P36,000 worth of cash prizes are at stake for the winning runners in the 21k and 12k distances. The 6k and 3k winning runners will get certificates, according to the organizers.

Registration is now going on at the SHS-AdC alumni office in barangay Canduman, Mandaue City, RUNNR at the Ayala Center Cebu, The Brick at the Cebu IT Park and Race.ph.

Registration fee is pegged at P700 for the 21k, P600 for the 12k, P450 for the 6k and P400 for the 3k distances.

Deadline of registration is on July 9.

Juarez, meanwhile, said the the mountainside portion of the South Coastal Road will be closed for the race.

“We have to close it so that we can make sure that the runners will have a safe race,” Juarez said. “There will also be enough marshals and water stations.