PILIPINAS Run 2017 gets back on the road next month bearing the same advocacy of promoting health and wellness.
Dubbed ‘Run with purpose,’ the March 12 event starts and ends at the Cultural Center of the Philippines in Pasay City and features 5K, 10K, and the centerpiece event 16K races.
Patterned after the London Marathon, the run expects around 3,000 to 4,000 runners to join the cause.
No less than Police Chief Superintendent Glibert Cruz led the formal launching of the meet at the weekly Philippine Sportswriters Association Forum on Tuesday at the Golden Phoenix Hotel along D. Macapagal, Sunrise Drive in Pasay City.
“The Philippine National Police is in-charge of the security preparation on the actual event in coordination with the organizers of the event,” said Cruz, who added persons in drug rehabilitation program have also been invited to join the event. “Actually, ‘yung ibang na-convert natin, siguro will ask them to join.”
Together with Cruz in the public sports program presented by San Miguel Corp. Accel, Shakey’s, and the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. were Mayen Santos of the Department of Tourism, representing Assistant Secretary Ricky Alegre, race organizer and director Philip Pacle, and co-organizer Jones T. Campos of Jones PR.
Campos added the run will also have education and sports tourism as additional advocacies.
“Ginawa na naming nationwide to boost more tourist spots in the country, even in the Visayas and Mindanao,” said Campos. “We’ve actually prepared tour packages for foreign visitors who are participating in Pilipinas Run.”
“We encourage and support sports tourism in the country like what we did in the last Ms. Universe pageant,” said Santos for her part.
Cash prizes and trophies will be given to the top three male and female finishers in each category, while medals and shirts will be handed out to finishers.
The event also seeks to support deserving children, with special focus on orphans and abused children, with the Calvary Christian Life School, the education arm of the Bethesda Children’s Home in Itogon, Benguet as one of the beneficiaries.
A tourist destination will also be supported for the first time in Hundred Islands National Park in Alaminos City, Pangasinan to augment the improvement of its facilities.
Open to all, the runfest is presented by Pag-Ibig Fund, Globe Telecom, PAGCOR, McDonald’s, Rain and Soul, Pocari Sweat, Eastern Telecom, Liliy’s Peanut Butter, Universal Robina Corp., Pepsi, Growers, Smart, PLDT, Island Living, Ayala Corp., and China Bank.