Race director praises local organizers

BUT FIRST… A group of friends use the crowd of runners behind them as background for their “groufie” before the start of the race along Osmeña Boulevard.
CDN PHOTO/LITO TECSON

Renowned footrace organizer and race director Rio dela Cruz of Run Rio was impressed with how local organizers handled the 39th National Milo Marathon Cebu Qualifying Leg on Sunday.
The yearly footrace was again the biggest outside of the Manila nationals as it drew 23,713 runners. Despite the huge turnout, everything went smoothly from start to finish.
Dela Cruz, also the race director of the annual Cebu City Marathon held every January before the Sinulog Festival, was quick to credit the local organizers for putting together a well-organized race.
“Wala na akong ma i-suggest pa na improvement. Nagawa na nila lahat. Sa totoo lang, napaka galing talaga ng local organizing team dito sa Cebu kasi lahat nagtutulungan from the barangays, volunteer groups and the Local Government Unit (LGU). Kaya nagiging successful yung event. (I don’t have anything more to suggest that needs improvement. They did it all. To be honest, the local organizing team in Cebu is really good because all of them help each other, from the barangays, volunteer groups and the LGU. That’s why the event is successful),” dela Cruz said.
While local organizing team chief Ricky Ballesteros agreed with Dela Cruz’s assessment of yesterday’s race, he still thinks there is still a lot of room for improvement, albeit just minor ones.
“We’re trying to improve everything, even though they insist that Cebu’s race is already perfect in all aspects,” Ballesteros said.
Ballesteros lauded the Cebu city government , volunteer groups and the marshals for a job  well done.
Dela Cruz said the success of yesterday’s race boosts Cebu City’s chances of hosting the national finals.
“Cebu definitely has a  big chance of hosting the national finals because everything is here already from the local organizers, LGU, volunteers, airport, hotels and transportation. I can’t ask for more. But we have to focus this year in Angeles City, Pampanga for the national finals and see what’s going to happen there,” Dela Cruz said.
This year, the national finals will be held outside of Metro Manila for the first time. It will be held in Angeles, Pampanga on Dec. 6.
Compared to last year’s 244 qualifiers, only 104 runners qualified for the national finals’ 42k race. Even though the race was not able to surpass last year’s record-setting 26,000 runners, the 3k distance this year increased, drawing in 1,072 runners compared to last year’s 300. The 21k runners also had a record-setting number with 778 runners, eclipsing last year’s 711. The 5k distance had the bulk of runners with a total of 21,046 runners. 463 registered in the 10k distance.