Clark Field, Pampanga—A huge turnout is again expected when the Tata Consultancy Services-Clark Animo International Marathon 2020 gets going on March 8.
Organizers said this following the launch of the footrace yesterday at the Clark Global City Conference Center in Angeles, Pampanga.
This year, the footrace is patterned after the Boston Marathon with the race route measured and certified by the International Association of Athletic Federations and the Association of International Marathons and Distance Races.
“It will be bigger this year. And we will have entertainment along the routes,” said race director Jumbo Tayag.
The race will feature competitions in the 42.2 km event, the half marathon, as well as events in the 10-km, the 5-km and 2.5 km courses.
The footrace is now on its 11th year, a big reason why the course was given an international certification by the IAAF and the AIMS, and for the second straight year.
Tayag said participants will have a chance to join the international race should they make the cut with their times.
They even invited elite participants, who have won medals in the recent Southeast Asian Games to try out the route.
“Elite athletes will be there. There are SEA Games medallists like triathlete John Chicano,” added Tayag, who added that the course in Clark Global City will be see the same route that they plan to use in the next five years.
The race was first done in 2009 as a fun run in Clark Field, with an initial entry of 600 participants.
With the number increasing every year, organizers finally got the backing of the De La Salle Alumni Association of Pampanga this year, along with TCS, a leading technology company.
The event now seeks to raise funds to support its various community projects on the environment and education.
DLSAA-P president Darwin Cunanan believes that the race will get bigger and better with the certification the organizers obtained from the IAAF and the AIMS. Peter Atencio