Amazing Race!

"Punishing, Pero Enjoy."

This was how an adventure racer described the three-day, gruelling 300-kilometer "Conquer Iligan" Eco- Adventure Race held recently in Iligan City.

Thumbie Remegio, a veteran national adventure racer of Team Merrell (Manila) who acted as the course director, says that this is the first of its kind high-profile adventure race patterned after the multi-day "Outdoor Quest" and New Zealand’s popular eco-challenge, a non-stop adventure race.

This budding outdoor sport involves different disciplines such as mountain biking, trail running, swimming, kayaking, paddling, navigation, rope techniques and other related skills.

Adventure racing was introduced in Iligan in 1998 with the founding of the city’s team, Iligan Pride. Local race director Stephen "Tottie" delos Santos, Climbers in Response to Ecology (CARE)-Iligan project chairman, spearheaded the activity with Bambi Guevara, Maria Cristina Chemical Industries (MCCI) president and an outdoor enthusiast himself.

Experienced and amateur racers from different provinces joined "Conquer Iligan" through Remegio’s coordination with Iligan City sports director Freddie Siao and Sangguniang Panlungsod chairman for sports Councilor Varf Belmonte, who gave full support and listed the activity under Iligan City Mayor Lawrence Ll. Cruz’s "Bangon Iligan" sports program.

The participating teams included Merrell (Manila), Kamas-Kamas (Dumaguete), West Negros, City of Waterfalls Athletic Association (COWAA-Iligan), Alpha Q (Davao), Almar Lift A (Cagayan de Oro), Almar Lift B (Cagayan de Oro), New Start (Iligan), Clean Maigo (Lanao del Norte), Conquistadores (Iligan) and Gasul. Each team was composed of two males and one female or two females and one male.

Day 1 saw the Kamas-Kamas team leading the pack with Team Merrell closely behind as they ran from the Anahaw ampitheater in Buhanginan Hills, the site of the Iligan City Hall.

The teams ran through the city’s main streets to the pier, from where they swam towards waiting bancas for the next discipline, banca paddling which finished up at the coastline of Barangay Dalipuga. Some 11 kilometers from there was Cetennial Park, where contestants picked up their mountain bikes for the gruelling route covering four hinterland barangays north of the city.

Downhill in Barangay Bonbonon, the teams left their mountain bikes to start the next test, running and hiking and finally river tubing below the Hinaplanon Bridge before sprinting towards the City Plaza for the finish line.

The COWAA team, leading on the first day, was penalized for comitting an error in the last lap when, instead of running, they made a biathlon. "We failed to double check what the next discipline was because of time pressure," explains team leader Kaire Alag. They were ordered to back track, costing them their victory for the day.

On Day 2, the teams started running from the racers’ homebase at the foot of Buhanginan Hills towards the pier for the swimming episode for the day, after which they ran back to home base and picked up their mountain bikes for another gruelling and punishing steep course towards Mt. Agad-Agad. Upon reaching Pugaan River, they continued with trail running, hiking, biking again and biathlon for the dash towards the finish line at the City Plaza.

The last and final day of the competition started at the City Plaza, where the teams ran anew towards the pier for a dive and swim. Then it was back to running, trail running and hiking again but on a different course: Mt. Agad-Agad up to Barangay Pindugangan via Suarez, Abono, Upper Tominobo until reaching the vicinity of Maria Cristina Falls in Sitio Fuentes, Barangay Buruun and Tinago Falls in Ditucalan.

The teams continued until reaching Mimbalut Falls, Buruun, for rapelling and biking to cover at least half the distance before finally making biathlon and running towards the finish line outside Jollibee at the junction of Roxas Avenue and Aguinaldo Street at the center of the city, where event officials and a cheering crowd waited.

The overall standing of the teams showed Team Merrell, coming from behind Kamas-Kamas in the first two days of the competition, clocking 19 hours and 22 minutes to garner the first prize, while Kamas-Kamas came a close second with 20 hours, followed by West Negros, Alpha Q, COWAA, Clean Maigo, Almar Lift A, New Start, Gasul, and Conquistadores. Almar Lift B did not finish.

Tired, weary, sunburnt and with minor scratches after finishing first, Keith Arganos of Team Merrell says, "It was punishing pero enjoy kaming lahat."

On the other hand, the lone female member of Team Merrell, Popo Nagtalon, a triathlete since 1999, says that the course is one of the best she had seen. "I’m here racing because it also offers an opportunity to travel and see places–not to mention the prizes at stake."

Merrell team leader Christopher Eyao, a veteran adventure racer, also admired the race course: "The course is very challenging and it is better than most race courses I have seen because it is a natural course. Maganda ang pagka-design ng course where every participant can finish."

"Nandito na ang lahat, even in a small area (300 kilometers) nandiyan na ang river, bundok, at dagat–complete! Iligan has rich natural resources," says Joey Rana, another veteran adventure racer of Team Alpha Q, although his female team mate Keith Canton said she almost fainted during the last day of the race due to exhaustion and fatigue.

Tottie delos Santos, the local pioneer adventure racing director, was visibly pleased with the success of the event, saying, " In the near future we will continue and we will expand the race course and invite more teams, who knows, we might even invite foreign adventure racing teams!"