Guardo runners vow to finish the race in Quezon City Marathon

CEBU, Philippines - “We will finish the race.”

This will be the battlecry of the Guardo Running Team led by noted businessman/sportsman Jonathan “Atan” L. Guardo when they see action in the 1st Quezon City International Marathon early this morning.

“Hopefully, we will all be able to finish the race. That is our primary target. If opportunity permits, we will try to cross the finish line ahead of the cutoff time and possibly beat our personal bests attained in local races and abroad,” said Guardo.

Guardo will be joined by his brothers Sambag I Brgy. Capt. Jerry and Brgy. Tisa top councilor Jeson and former Cebu City Councilor Joel Garganera in their pursuit for prominence in the running circuit.

Guardo, who is set for his second full-marathon race after the one in Hong Kong a few months back, said their participation in the P3-million event is also their own little way of extending help to the needy ones especially those who are hardest hit by the tropical storm Ondoy three weeks ago.

Quezon City Mayor Feliciano “Sonny” Belmonte and the organizing Executive Runners Club of the Philippines (Runnex) have earlier announced that net proceeds of the race will be donated to the victims of Ondoy, which sparked the country’s worst storm-induced flooding in Manila and outlying Luzon provinces in almost four decades.

“We also want to help our brothers and sisters who are in dire need of help that is why we are actively involved into this noble undertaking,” said Guardo.

The 1st Quezon City International Marathon, one of the richest running events held in the country, boasts of a solid crack of entries from Kenya as well as the top runners in RP today.

Designed to showcase Quezon City as Asia’s City of the Future and an emerging global center for business and investment, the QCIM will be the highlight of the 70th founding anniversary of Quezon City this month.

Four race distances are on tap. Cash prizes, trophies and valuable gifts will be up for grabs in the 42-kilometer full marathon and in the 5, 10 and 21-kilometer satellite races.

The sweetest pot will be for the champions in the full marathon with P300,000 to be awarded to each of the champion in men and women’s division, and P200,000 and P100,000 to each of their first and second runners-up, respectively.

The first placer in the men and women’s half-marathon, meanwhile, will each receive P30,000. The second and third placers in both categories will each get P20,000 and P10,000, respectively. Cash prizes, gifts and trophies will also be awarded to winners in the 5- and 10-kilometer races. Top finishers in each age category and each division will be awarded with cash prizes.

An interesting sidelight to the race is the inclusion of the advanced electronic timing chips (Champion-chips) which will be provided to the QCIM competitors to capture via computer each of the participants’ performance and provide analysis on their run. Color-coded running singlets for each race category will likewise be used. (THE FREEMAN)