Killer Hills

Last Sunday, members of the Cebu Executive Runners Club (CERC) preparing for the !st Cebu 50K Ultramarathon held a route familiarization run from Mt. Manunggal in Balamban to JY Square. At 4:00 A.M the club composed of Dr. Vic Verallo. Jesse Taborada, Dodong Sulatre, Joel Juarez, Kenneth Casquejo, Dr. Alex Junia, Dr. John Ara-nas, Roy Trani, Cynthia Arnaiz, Dr. George Evangelista, Barry Marquez, Bro Carlo Ba-calla, Steve Ferraren, Jun Remo Sabino Donato and myself met at the Bright Academy in Banilad. We took off for Balamban and reached the entrance to Mt. Mananggal after an hour. We were slowed down by the fog that made visibility, very difficult. We were joined by Dr. Abe Manlawe and Joven Villasor who camped at the crash site the night before. Dr. Abe said it was freezing out there. We just intended to run 30km, so we started at the Transcentral Hi-way. Well, we really did it the hard way as we negotiated some 10 killer stretches. The downhills were also strength-zapping, especially on the legs as you apply the "brakes" most of the time. We were able to relax a bit when we hit Ayala Heights, but it's really no picnic.

Road Test

Halfway at the Transcentral, we met several Ungo runners who will also be join-ing the Ultra. I would like to advise participants to please concentrate more on the hills. Running up Busay is not enough. And try to do more heat training as you will be hitting Marco Polo Hotel by 9:00 a.m , when the sun isn't friendly anymore. We are still looking for a venue and the time to conduct the clinic for the Ultramarathon where Front Run-ner's Jonel Mendoza will be one of the speakers. The others are Dr. Abe Manlawe and Francis Cosgrave. Ireland's mountain marathon former champion.

No Penalties

The United Architects of the Philippines (UAP) Cebu Get up and Go Green 12K Run will not impose the late registration fee that was supposed to be implemented today. This was announced by prexy Jay-R decatoria who said it will encourage more runners to partici-pate. Over 300 runners have already registered including some Japanese and Dutch run-ners. Registration is still on going at Runnr Ayala Center, Casa Ilongga at Robinsons Place and PSC office at the Cebu City Sports Center. Distribution of race packets will be at the Active Zone starting on Thursday at 2:00 pm until 7:00 pm.

Dinagyang Run

Prosports president Boyet Rentoy has designated me as race director for next year's Dinagyang 16K Run set on January 16 in IloIlo City. It has been awhile since the last Dinagyang run was staged there but Rentoy believes with the current running boom gripping the country, the race could draw 3,000 runners. The run will be a week after the Cebu Marathon that fires off on January 9 at the AsiaTown I.T Park.