MANILA, Philippines - The four honors guards who escorted the remains of the late President Corazon Aquino will be participating in the Subaru Impreza Challenge that will happen this weekend at the Fort Global City. The four soldiers, Navy PO3 Edgardo Rodriguez, Air Force A2C Gener Laguindam, PO2 Danilo Malab Jr. and Army PFC Antonio Cadiete, who have earned the whole nation’s admiration for their extraordinary display of discipline and endurance, have signed up for the Subaru event that requires competitors to place their right palms on the car with last person standing winning the competition and the chance to fly to Singapore to compete for the ultimate prize of a brand-new Subaru Impreza WRX worth P1.728 million.
More popularly known as President Cory’s honor guards, the four soldiers have been widely praised and cited for their displaying exceptional discipline in the performance of their extraordinary task of remaining standing in attention throughout the entire procession that lasted for nine hours with the 20-kilometer stretch from the Manila Cathedral to Manila Memorial Park in Parañaque.
The same discipline and endurance will be put to the test at the Subaru Impreza Challenge where contestants battle the harsh weather elements and body fatigue in their ultimate goal of winning a brand-new Subaru Impreza. With their right palms firmly placed on the palm decals located strategically on the Subaru Impeza cars, hundreds of contestants embarked on their endurance journey where they were only allowed a 5-minute break once every 6 hours. The ten finalists from Manila will win an all-expense paid trip to the Singapore regional finals where they will compete with the winners from other Asian countries and the chance to win a brand-new Subaru Impreza WRX 2.5 Turbo worth P1.728 Million and P100,000 in cash prize.
In 2008, a new record of 81 hours and 32 minutes was set by the winner George Lee from Singapore who beat 399 other participants including the ten Filipino representatives who qualified in last year’s Manila leg. The last Filipino survivor in the competition lasted 62 hours and 53 minutes.
The conditions are expected to be tougher this year with the adoption of the same rules and regulations used in the Regional Face Off event. Aside from not being allowed to eat or drink during the challenge, and using only their right palms, contestants will be disqualified if they violate any of the rules. These also include not being allowed to have any accessories, like sunglasses, hats, sweatbands nor any change of apparel or footwear during the Challenge. Contestants can use the five-minute break every six hours to go to the toilet, rest and recharge with food, drinks and even get a massage.
Those interested to participate in the Impreza Challenge can still register on the day itself as long as they arrive before 10am at the Block 10 of Bonifacio Global City. The competition will officially start on September 12, Saturday at 12pm with briefing of rules and regulations as well as the raffle of car assignments happening beforehand. The event is expected to last until the announcement of the winners of the Impreza Challenge on the evening of September 13, Sunday.
Families, friends and supporters are expected to join the event and cheer on the participants who will aim to last for a possible 36 hours in their bid to join the top ten finalists. The event promises to be festive for all with the various activities scheduled throughout the weekend and will keep the competitors company during their ordeal.
The Subaru Club of the Philippines will be holding their first ever Subaru Fest starting on Saturday afternoon with various Subaru models and makes to be showcased by their owners. Providing the party atmosphere will be 99.5RT who will be doing a live broadcast starting at 6pm with their 24k weekend hits played throughout the night. Motor Image will also be displaying the complete line-up of their Subaru models in the event.