By Kevin San Pedro and Nathanielle Punay
SMILE Train’s Team Empower is ready to run for a cause in an Ironman 70.3 race in Cebu this August.
In partnership with the World Triathlon Corporation, which organizes Ironman triathlon races all over the world, they created an event which aims not only to raise funds, but also expand awareness for the cleft problem.
The race will be held on Aug. 6 in Mactan, Cebu and is open to the public with Smile Train being represented by 10 of their ambassadors.
One of their ambassadors, Rojan Pajarin, was born with a cleft lip and a cleft palate. Pajarin was a former beneficiary of Smile Train and has since been leading the charge in representing cleft patients all over the Philippines.
“The first time I met Rojan 7 years ago, you can’t talk to him like this,” said Kimmy Coseteng-Flaviano, Smile Train Country Director in the Philippines. “He’s very shy and if you talk to him parang natataranta siya na parang, ‘why are you talking to me?’ but now he’s very confident and you can see a lot of people who meet him would say, ‘your smile is even nicer than ours.’”
Other ambassadors participating in the race include Gene Tiongco, an active Smile Train volunteer surgeon, and Bing Benares, a swim coach and founder of Swimfit Swim School.
This is Benares’ first time to participate in a charity run and is a new Smile Train ambassador herself.
“I think there’s something bigger than sa ginagawa ko and it’s a different feeling when you are motivated for something na. Siyempre, it comes also with an obligation na hindi lang sarili iniisip mo because you’re an ambassador, so you represent the group,” said Benares.
To prepare for the race, Smile Train coordinated with Second Wind, a running specialty brand store, to provide proper conditioning exercises as well as specialized apparel for the ambassadors in preparation for the race.
Smile Train is a global charity that has been making waves throughout the world with its conscious effort at combating the cleft lip and palate condition and has recently been directing its focus to the Philippines.
Since 2001, the charity had already completed 50,000 procedures in the Philippines alone and more than a million throughout the world.
Cleft lip and palate is a common birth defect that can only be fixed through surgery. In the Philippines, one out of 700 live births develop clefts.
Gene Tiongco, a plastic and reconstructive surgeon, has long been a volunteer and advocate in Smile Train’s efforts. In addition, he is also an avid runner and has already represented Smile Train in the Chicago (2014) and London (2016) marathons.
“Endemic siya here in the Philippines, even if you say you hold a lot of missions or operations, dumarating pa rin sila. Majority of them are from different, far-flung [places]. The good thing lang is, especially with cleft lip, is amazing ang results. Dramatic ang results. Life-changing talaga,” he said.