Runnex holds anniversary run Sunday

MANILA, Philippines – The Executive Runners Club Philippines Inc. (Runnex), one of the country’s oldest running clubs, will celebrate its 26th anniversary on Sunday with its Anniversary Challenge at the UP Diliman campus in Quezon City.

The highlight of the occasion is the 10-kilometer race around the campus with races of 2.2K and 5K completing an anniversary event designed to showcase the carless oval of the University of the Philippines Diliman campus and the Padyak Project of the UP Mountaineers.

Headed by chairman Art Disni and president Rudy Fernandez, Runnex also conducts a 10-month free running clinic every Sunday from February to October and Executive Classic in December. Organized in 1983 at the height of the running boom of the 80s, Runnex has since been promoting running as a sport and as a way of life by conducting running clinics and races.

Sunday’s races will use electric cars and bicycles of the UP Mountaineers as lead vehicles – a first in the local running scene – in keeping with its theme, ‘’Human Energy for the Filipino Race’’ which calls for clean, renewable and sustainable energy.

The event is supported by SMART, the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office, Manila Water, BPI Asset Management, BPI Foundation, Phillips, Gatorade, R.O.X Aquavit, Sportspray and other sponsors.

Cash prizes will be awarded to the top three male and female finishers in the 2.2K, 5K and 10K events.

The Padyak Project is a non-profit initiative of the UP Mountaineers to make bicycles and biking more accessible to UP students.

For a minimal donation of P500, a student can use the Padyak bike around the campus for a whole semester and have free access to training clinics on safety guidelines and on tips and rules in bike commuting.

The bikes used are reconditioned single-speed bikes with step-through frames intended not for speed, but for safety, comfort, visibility, and function. Utility baskets are also mounted on the handlebars.