Midnight Marathon

The Cebu Midnight Run was the longest running midnight race in the country until last year.  The run celebrated its 10th anniversary last December 2011 but failed to take off last year due to our busy schedule, organizing the grueling 100 miles ultramarathon and several Elvis gigs including singing in a wedding with songwriter and recording artist Jose Mari Chan.  The renovation of the City Sports Club Cebu, the race venue, was also a factor for not holding the run.  However, if plans don’t miscarry, we will have two midnight runs this year  while the Cebu Midnight Run which is held just inside the Cebu Business District premises, the other projected race will be a full marathon and will be staged at the SRP.  The run which will be dubbed the Cebu Midnight Marathon will also feature 5k,10k and 21k distances.  A businessman- politician will be heading the organizing committee.

Caticlan ultra

Prosports president Boyet Rentoy and I have been doing some  sort of sports tourism lately.  We will be organizing the Caticlan (Boracay) Ultramarathon in October.  On April 13, we will be off to Puerto Princessa in Palawan for the Palawan Ultramarathon then in May, we will stage the Guimaras (Balaan-Bukid) 50k Ultramarathon. Those joining the Caticlan ultra will be shooting two birds with one stone.  They could take a quick trip to Boracay Island which is only 25 minutes away via pumpboat from Caticlan or they could also take a bus to IloIlo City which only takes less than 3 hours. While we enjoyed the I Shall Return Ultra in Tacloban last year with  the participants running on the San Juanico Bridge, I’ll be traveling to Agas Agas in Liloan town Southern Leyte to survey another breathtaking venue.  If you don’t know, Agas Agas is the tallest bridge in the entire country.  Tune in for more details. Meanwhile, registration  to the 3rd Coast to Coast 65k ultramarathon is now in full swing at Runnr Ayala.

Blade runner

One-legged triathlete Rudy Fernandez was stunned after hearing the news that Olympic star Oscar Pistorius had been charged for killing his model girlfriend last Valentine’s Day.  Pistorius, a double amputee who won gold medals in the world competitions is also known as the Blade Runner because of the carbon running blades he used during races.  On the other hand, Rudy runs with a titanium artificial leg. Pistorius could spend the rest of his life in prison once proven guilty.  His girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, 29 an FHM cover girl, suffered four gunshot wounds.   “This is a bad day for physically-challenged athletes like me.” Said Rudy who has swam the Guimaras Strait in 1996 while cycling 240 kilometers from IloIlo City to Jamindan, Capiz in 2000.  Rudy  was even invited to the Kona Ironman Championship in Hawaii.

Masters association

After being appointed president of the Masters and Seniors Athletics Association-Visayas, I’m picking  the members of the association. Dr. Abe Manlawe is vice president  with the Philippine Sports Commission’s  Audie Marte and Lerma Binaoro as treasurer and secretary respectively.  I’m appointing Raffy Osumo as PRO with DepEd’s Nilo Villadolid as consultant.  We will hold a meeting on Thursday at 3:00 p.m at the PSC office at the Cebu City Sports Center.  All Team Cebu members are requested to attend.

NOTES:  I’ll be in Manila on February 28 to watch Cliff Richard  perform at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.  Cliff who’s 73 years old will sing his hits that include “The Young Ones”, “Ocean Deep”, “Constantly”, “Move It”, and “Summer Holiday” among others.  I’ll also talk to the Cliff Richard of the Philippines Jose Mari Chan for our proposed  concert in Cebu dubbed “Elvis and Cliff Rocks Cebu.” And did you know that former Congressman Monico Puentebella was the Cliff Richard of Bacolod City?