Danao to host CVIRAA meet

CEBU, Philippines - It’s final. The Central Visayas Regional Athletic Association (CVIRAA) Regional Meet will be hosted by Danao City on November 8 to 14.

Danao, through Mayor Ramon “Nito” Durano III and his nephew Councilor Oscar “Boying” Rodriguez Jr., sent a letter of intent to host the event late last month.

DepEd-VII regional director Recaredo Borgonia approved Danao’s bid right away.

It was a relief for Borgonia, who wanted the event in November to better prepare the selected athletes of the region for the Palarong Pambansa so as not to interrupt the student-athletes’ final examinations.

This will be first time in the history of the CVIRAA that the event will be held on November as usually it takes place in the first quarter of the year, or at least a month before the Palarong Pambansa.

With Danao accepting the challenge of hosting the event even with such short period of time, it will also be the first time that two CVIRAA Meet takes place in a year.

This will be the second time that Danao City will be hosting this DepEd-organized regional multi-sporting event. The first time was in 2004.

Danao is the sole bidder of the upcoming meet after the Province of

Bohol dropped its bid for unknown reasons.

Danao City’s DepEd officials and the Danao City Sports Commission led by Councilor Rodriguez already meet representatives from DepEd-VII’s Physical Education and School Sports (PESS) division to discuss about the playing venues among others.

Another ocular inspection will be held next week according to DepEd-PESS official Victor Yntig.

Most likely, only the swimming event will be done in Cebu City due to the absence of an Olympic-standard pool.

The other medal-rich athletics will be done at the rubberized track oval of the Ramon Durano Memorial Sports Complex in Danao City as repair works on the damaged part of the oval had already been done.

Rodriguez also told The Freeman yesterday that Danao already has more covered courts and a Civic Center that can be the venues for basketball and dancesport.

“Even with the limited time, we will have a better hosting than the first one. We now have more covered courts, a terminal, a fish port and a Civic Center. This is high time that Danao hosts the event again,” Rodriguez said. – THE FREEMAN