Cavite youth runners get most out of sold-out Green Run in Vermosa

MANILA, Philippines – Young runners from Cavite will be the ones most benefiting from a sold-out 2024 Green Run in Vermosa, which wrapped up over the weekend at the Vermosa Sports Hub in Imus, Cavite, with over 2000 runners gracing the event.

The third iteration of the Green Run, organizers sold out the 2,500 slots for the multi-distance race, with the lion’s share of participants running in the 10K race. More than basking in the accomplishment, Vermosa project development manager MJ Aragones underscored the bigger benefit of the run.

Takbo Kabitenyo Inc., a non-profit organization for young runners from Cavite, is one of the beneficiaries of Sunday’s event, and supporting the local sports scene has always been big for Aragones and Vermosa.

“This is one of our biggest [events] so far that we’ve had, [the run] is in its third year already. We’re just very excited and we’re very much thankful to everyone,” Aragones told the media.

“Si Takbo Kabitenyo has been an institution here in Cavite. As we also celebrate the sports here in Vermosa, it was a no-brainer to partner with them.”

Apart from being users of the facilities in the Sports Hub, Takbo Kabitenyo also has a hold on the local running community, which contributes tremendously to Vermosa’s success in reaching that particular target market with their events and offerings.

“They have been users of our facilities, they’ve been users of our roads and we are very much thankful to Takbo Kabitenyo for just bringing in a lot of people, ang laki ng influence. And we’re very much happy to partner with them,” continued Aragones.

But the young runners aren’t just a charity case as they’ve been developing young talents for collegiate, national teams since their establishment in 2012. The runners’ promise showed even in the Green Run itself, with multiple race winners coming from the organization during Sunday’s run.

Takbo Kabitenyo president Noah Diaz expressed his delight in having the chance to flaunt their runners’ caliber in the Green Run.

“Masayang masaya po kami dahil sa una pa lang po, bale nagstart kami ng 2012, bale mga ilang athletes po talaga ang sinusupportahan namin,” said Diaz.

Organization spokesperson Dr. Apollo Himoc, for his part, underscored the role of Vermosa in providing quality facilities for their runners which in turn created more motivation for the young athletes of Cavite to continue on in their path.

“Namomotivate yung mga bata sa ganito, ngayon mas lumaki yung group since we have a nice venue… So, previously meron kaming training duon sa Daanghari pa, ginagawa pa halos yan. So we shifted here sa Oval tapos naging mas maganda yung performance so, it helps talaga,” he said.

The 2024 Green Run in Vermosa included races in multiple distances — 21K, 10K, 5K, and 3K. It also featured a 1K dog run which featured over 300 dogs and owners in a mini-race.