Running spree at Run United 3

MANILA, Philippines - After a nearly three-month break, Run United is back. And as the cliché goes, “the third time is a charm.” Last year, in fact, a record number of runners estimated at over 14,000 participated in Run United 3.

Run United 3, the third leg of the Run Rio Trilogy, has always been much anticipated because it offers what is dubbed as the “Afroman Distance” or 32k category — not usually included in other run races. Of course, on top of the other race categories: The Ceelin 500-m dash, 3k, 5k, 10k and 21k.

“This time around however, the 32k Afroman Distance is not the longest distance anymore at Run United races since we will have our first ever Run United Philippine Marathon on Oct. 28. So, Run United 3 can be a preparatory race for the runners,” said Alex Panlilio, head of Unilab Active Health (ULAH).

Meanwhile, according to Rio dela Cruz, the runners’ anticipation over Run United 3 will be all worth it as new features and surprises await them on Sept. 16. For one, there will be new routes as well as different starting and finish lines again for Run United 3, like in the previous two races.

The 32K runners will have a gun start at Bonifacio Global City (BGC) starting at 3 a.m., an hour ahead of the 21k runners. They will be led from BGC to take their first 10k in University Parkway area, then move up to Kalayaan Flyover. Then, they will go all the way down to Buendia, take left at Roxas Blvd., turnaround taking the roads of Vicente Sotto, Diosdado Macapagal and on to EDSA before finally turning left at Seaside Blvd. for the finish at the Mall of Asia (MOA).

The 21k will have an earlier gun start at 4 a.m. compared to Run United 2’s 4:30 a.m. They will have the same route as the 32k runners, but instead of going to EDSA they will turn right after Macapagal Ave., turning right at Seaside Blvd. and then all the way to the finish line in MOA.

For details, log on to www.unilabactivehealth.com or www.runrio.com.