Councilor Alcoseba clarifies: No intention to regulate races

CEBU, Philippines – "Cooperation,not regulation."

Councilor Raul "Yayoy" Alcoseba clarified earlier reports on the city's move to regulate running events, saying it will be more of seeking cooperation among organizers and different cities here and not regulation.

Regulating an event will be very difficult, not to mention it will be limited to Cebu City only should the other cities disagree with it.

The clamor to "regulate" running events here arose due to conflicts between organizers and race schedules.

"The city or the CCSC will not be here to interfere any of the events. Instead, we better coordinate with the different cities like Mandaue, Talisay and Lapu-Lapu regarding the schedule of running events," Alcoseba said.

Alcoseba said, they want to meet the officials of the other cities' sports commissions and city councils to discuss the matter.

There are now many weekends where there are more than one race held at the same time.

Cebu City Sports Commissioner Danilo Villadolid, a former top trackster himself, noted that with all the races coming up, especially having two long distance events in a month have caused the decline of quality long distance athletes now.

Villadolid said that athletes now are going after the money than the gold or record when they represent their respective schools or the city in multi-sporting events like the CVIRAA, Palarong Pambansa or in the Private Schools Athletic Association.

Other than that, Dr. Potenciano 'Yong' Larrazabal III, who initiated the Run For Sight Series, a once-a-month race before the running boom, said that having two or more running events in a day is not good for organizers who are truly holding an event for a certain cause, aside from the fact that it also affects the family's budget.

"Right now, I'd say, there's about a thousand and 200 serious runners in Cebu. If there are two runs, one event will suffer. Other than that, our aim of camaraderie will be affected. Instead of uniting, you see runners or organizers quarreling with each other now," Larrazabal said.

He was invited to the CCSC meeting yesterday at Yayoy's Grill along with other organizer, Raffy Uyptiepo.

Aside from coordinating with the other cities, CCSC Commissioner Tony del Prado also pointed out the need for organizers to seek accreditation with   CCSC to protect the interest of the running community and the possible creation of a group for the organizers plus a barangayan run in the future.

There was already an attempt to form a group among organizers, but this did not materialize as not all organizers cooperated.

As to the barangayan run, CCSC Chairman Edward Hayco said, this event is aimed at providing residents of Cebu City a chance to enjoy this event at their own barangays and have a healthy lifestyle without having to pay anything for the registration fee.

Uytiepo, for his part, however said, with the rest of the year almost filled up with different races already, the barangayan run could probably kick off next year yet.

In another development, CCSC supports the promotion of billiards in the different barangays and schools in the city.

Councilor Joey Daluz said, it will be a "wise investment" as billiards is one sport that the Pinoys can truly excel internationally.

Councilor Acoseba and CCSC Chairman Hayco, however, stressed out that there should be a balance between schooling and in the search for gold and grassroots development. (FREEMAN)