THE second staging of the Manila Marathon this coming weekend drew a huge number of 19,000 participants, making it one of the biggest running events to be held in the country this year.
International marathoner Rio Dela Cruz made the disclosure five days before the international race presented by Samsung Galaxy, fires off at the SM Mall of Asia Complex on Sunday.
The event features four races at 42km, 21km, 10km, and 5km, and offers a total of P700K in cash prizes, including P100K each for the male and female champion in the premier 42km competition.
“We’re happy to announce that we already have 19,000 runners,” said Dela Cruz in Tuesday’s Philippine Sportswriters Association Forum at the conference hall of the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex.
“‘Yung ating 42k ay merong 3,000 (participants), at ito ‘yung nakakagulat, ‘yung ating 21k ay may 7,000 runners, making it one of the biggest 21k that we have organized. 10k is within 5,200, and ‘yung 3k almost 4,000 runners.”
With the big number of participants, safety and security of the runners are of foremost concern for the organizers, according to Andrew Neri, managing director of Run Rio Inc., who also appeared in the Forum presented by San Miguel Corporation, Philippine Sports Commission, Philippine Olympic Committee, Smart/PLDT, MILO, and the country’s 24/7 sports app ArenaPlus.
“Parang dalawang event ito in terms of numbers kasi ang average namin is around 8,000 to 10,000. Ngayon nasa 19,000. So ang ginawa namin doble din ‘yung security namin, ‘yung doctors namin, ‘yung ambulances namin, since for us, safety and security are top priorities,” said Neri.
Sanctioned by the Philippine Athletics Track and Field Association and recognized as part of the World Athletics’ rankings competition, the race will showcase members of the national team such as Christine Hallasgo, Artjoy Torregosa, Richard Salano, and Arlan Arbois as well as entries from Japan, the US, Singapore, UK, Canada, Malaysia, China, South Korea, Kenya, France, Poland, Switzerland, among others.
“This race is not only important for me but also for our country dahil ito ay qualifying by our national team for the Southeast Asian Games,” said Dela Cruz, president and CEO of Run Rio Inc. “So karamihan po sa kanila ay tatakbo para makita nila ang kanilang performance. At kung maabot nila yung standard ng SEA Games, maaari silang makuha.”
The SEA Games is Dec. 9 to 20 in Thailand.
The race will run through four cities, namely Manila, Makati, Paranaque, and Pasay, while it will also take runners through some of the iconic landmarks in the country’s capital such as the Rizal Park, Intramuros, Roxas Boulevard, and the CCP Complex.
Runners for the 42k will be the first to be flagged off at 12:00 midnight, followed by the 21k at 4:00 a.m., 10k at 5:00 a.m., and the 3k at 5:30 a.m.
