Heavy rains the night before did not prevent over 7,000 runners in attending Resorts World Manila’s (RWM) annual fun run for charity Run With Me X, at the SM Mall of Asia concert grounds, Sunday, August 25. The turnout broke last year’s record of 5,000 with five teams racing for the benefit of five charity institutions. Almost 30 celebrities signed up for this year’s event, the biggest in the annual race’s four-year history.
The GREEN team, led by actress Ara Mina and celebrity couple Chuckie and Yen Dreyfus, emerged as overall champions with a collective time of 4 hours, 6 minutes and 31 seconds for a P1.1 million slice of the total proceeds for Tahanang Walang Hagdanan, Inc.
On 2nd spot was the YELLOW team for a P1 million donation for its charity beneficiary, HERO Foundation. Coming in on 3rd was the ORANGE team who won P900,000 for the EPCALM Adult Leukemia Foundation; the BLUE team at 4th, winning P400,000 for the ERDA TECH Foundation; and on 5th place was the RED team winning P400,000 for the Right Start Community Development, Inc.
“We are very thankful for being one of Run With Me’s chosen charities. The donation from the run will go a long way as it will benefit more of our scholars and the purchase of more wheelchairs for our beneficiaries,” said Tahanang Walang Hagdanan’s PR and fund-raising manager Ramon Apilado.
“More than the proceeds, charity events like Run With Me X remain significant because it creates a community among people who want to be fit and help others while raising awareness on our respective advocacies,” shared recording artist and Right Start Community Development, Inc. Vice Chairperson Acel Bisa-Van Ommen.
With a three-prong approach that promotes health, charity, and camaraderie through running, Run With Me has become a significant contributor to its beneficiaries’ advocacies. “We are also advocates of healthy lifestyles. With the proceeds from Run With Me throughout the years, we were able to further help more of those who need spiritual, financial, and medical assistance,” according to EPCALM founder Dr. Erlyn Demerre.
Through the participation of Guam radio personality Ray Gibson and the Marriott Group of hotels through its Run To Give campaign, Run With Me X was also able to extend help to the Guam Homeless Coalition and Save The Children Philippines respectively.
“We’d like to thank all our RWM employees, the Thrillmakers who made this event possible, our partner hotels, our celebrity leaders, and participating institutions who made this year’s Run With Me X a success,” said RWM Chief Operating Officer Steve Reilly.
Individual awards for the fastest male and female runners were also given to Jackson Chirchir and Maricar Camacho. Chirchir defended his title as the fastest male from last year’s fun run, while Camacho emerged as this year’s fastest female after placing 2nd last year.
In its young age of four years, Run With Me X has also been recognized by both local and international award-giving bodies including the Stevie Awards, Philippine Quill, and Anvil Awards. The fun run is also part of RWM’s 10th anniversary celebrations.
For more results on Run With Me X, go to www.runwithme.ph. Visit www.rwmanila.com for more on RWM’s 10th anniversary celebrations.