Manila holds summer sea sports festival

The city of Manila is taking advantage of the season to hold its 4th Summer Sea Sports Festival at the Baywalk Roxas Boulevard this morning.

Manila Mayor Lito Atienza will lead the kick-off ceremonies for the festival at around 7 a.m.

The activities scheduled were made possible by the city government and the Manila Broadcasting Co. (MBC).

Apart from the usual dragonboat races to be participated in by the Philippine Dragon Boat Federation, there will also be wall-climbing events, including bouldering and speed climbing to be participated in by the Sports Climbing Association.

The national team will be participating in beach volleyball.

In a statement, Manila City Hall said wall climbing and beach volleyball are the latest additions to the competition for this year’s festival as special facilities like the climbing of wall and beach volleyball courts with fine sand have been set up by the city government.

"We invite everyone, especially families, to spend this day at the Roxas Boulevard Baywalk as we stage exciting and fun-filled competitions and exhibitions in this year’s Summer Sea Sports Festival. This is absolutely free and open to the public," he said.

Senior Police Officer 3 Telesporo Machon, of the Western Traffic Division (WTD), said there would be no road closure in connection with today’s activities.

Atienza will "awaken the dragon" following the time-honored worldwide ritual that racers paint the eyes of the dragon heads of their boats immediately before a competition, believing that this will awaken the mythical creature to wage battle. — Evelyn Macairan