Beam, Zest-O race eyes huge field

The Beam-Zest-O Patakbong Pinoy will carry the theme "Proud to be Pinoy" as the twice-monthly footrace hopes to identify itself as an event all its own starting with the Manila inaugural set Oct. 5 at the Raja Sulaiman Park in Malate.

Nelson Macaraig of the organizing Media Runners and Sports Promotions and Jonel Promotions said the theme is perfect fit for the event backed by the Manila Sports Council which hopes to encourage a broad section of Filipinos to try out running.

"Although the inaugural run is only set for five kilometers, we won’t call it merely as a fun run. The Patakbong Pinoy hopes to make even short-distance races like these very competitive so as to lure more people," said Macaraig." The tag ‘Proud to be Pinoy’ gives it a separate identity above all races."

In this line, the organizers opened the race to all walks of life, to include even those youngsters below 18 years old. "We have to remember that those who went into competitive running had to start at a very young age. And we have to keep this in mind as we opened the race to all ages," Macaraig added.

Participants below 18 need only to show their school identification cards and submit the completed entry form along with only the P30 entry fee and an empty carton of any size/variant of Beam Toothpaste. Regular participants need only to submit the completed entry form, a P50 entry fee and an empty carton of any size/variant of Beam Toothpaste.

Registration is now in full swing at the San Andres Sports Complex in Malate, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday to Friday. For more inquiries, interested parties may call 09176911259 and 09195399572.