Great start for 2011

The year 2011 is off with a big bang in terms of sports as the Cebu City Marathon 2011 takes place this Sunday.

The event has drawn over 1,000 runners for the full marathon, said organizer John Pages and about 1,400 more for the 21-kilometer run.

There are also many more out of town participants including a group of Kenyans, who shall allow us to see some world-class running in our own city.

The marathon is going to start and finish at the Asiatown IT Park in barangay Apas and will pass through the South Road Properties.

The tunnel that leads to the SRP will be closed from 10 p.m. on Saturday until 10 a.m. on Sunday as this will be part of the race route.

The Cebu City Marathon is one event that deserves all our support as it is professionally run and properly promoted to make it a true sports tourism attraction.

Since there will be some road closures, please take note of the announcements to avoid inconvenience.

In many major cities around the world, roads are also closed for major sporting events and I believe that the Cebu City Marathon is one that deserves such. One good thing about this is that the organizers as well as the traffic authority, which is CITOM, are working closely with each other.

We had some road closures in the past involving sports events that did not seem to be welcome to many. The reason for such was lack of information dissemination and lack of planning.

Since this is a Sunday morning, the expected volume of traffic won’t be very heavy.

Let’s support the Cebu City Marathon!

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Next week, the top players of the Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation Inc. (CESAFI) and the Governor Gwendolyn Garcia Unity Volleyball (GUV) Cup shall meet in an exhibition match at the USC Gym.

The match is set on the 12th, Wednesday, and is scheduled at 5 p.m.

This is the chance of many to witness great volleyball action featuring our collegiate stars from CESAFI and those former and future stars playing in the GUV Cup.

The GUV Cup has been a good source of players for the CESAFI schools. There are more plans to make the tournament even better with a parallel program to do training in the various towns and component cities.

If you haven’t watched any of the volleyball games in Cebu lately, this exhibition match is one that you should find time for.

Aside from seeing the best players, you will also see the changes in the rules of the game as well as the new standard of officiating being used in the tournaments here.

Volleyball surely has gone a long way from the time we were playing in the high school level back in the mid 1980s.

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MILESTONES: Belated birthday greetings to my mistah Lt. Col. Leandro Abeleda III, The Freeman’s Janet A. Montenegro, jungolfer Dominic Espinoza, and bodybuilder Pancho Ramirez, Jr., who celebrated yesterday.

Today’s greetings go to Auntie Minda A. Lebumfacil, Monina Blanco, Retired Col. Jimmy Bernal, Atty. Alex Lacson, Atty. Kay Malilong-Isberto, Heide Trinidad, Camille Cuisia, and Tito Miñoza.

More power to all of you!