Marathon for Pasig River rehab launched

The Clean & Green Foundation, Inc. - Piso Para sa Pasig has launched a new annual competitive marathon that hopes to match the magnitude of the Boston, New York and London Marathons – with an environmental twist.

"The Pasig River Heritage Marathon aims to be the Manila version of the Boston, New York and London marathons and it is also intended to sustain public awareness on the plight of the Pasig River and the urgent need to rehabilitate it," project director Ramon Socco Jr. said.

The Pasig River Heritage Marathon is set Feb. 25, 2001 and will be held every last Sunday of February thereafter.

Clean & Green Foundation, Inc. - Piso Para sa Pasig, the event’s main organizer, aims to increase participation every year in this event, which it is using as a tool to draw national and international attention to its rehabilitation efforts on the Pasig River.

"It is C&GFI-PPP’s mandate to be the advocacy arm of the private sector seeking for the Pasig River’s rehabilitation. We are committing our resources to launch this event in furtherance of that objective and we promise big prizes for the winners," Socco added.

The event is named the Pasig River Heritage Marathon as the route will take the runners from the historic Old Intramuros near the Pasig’s mouth and will end at Fort Bonifacio’s Global City in Makati near its main tributary, the Laguna de Bay.

Competitors will run the road networks that run parallel to the river and will cross the river 10 times through the river’s bridges – wanting in some upkeep themselves – from Del Pan in Binondo to Makati’s C-5.

"It is on Pasig’s delta that the sprawling Metropolitan Manila is built on, so any marathon that wants to be the definitive long-distance running event in the city should emphasize the Pasig’s importance to us. Hence the name Pasig River Heritage Marathon," Socco explained.

Organized in cooperation with Ron de los Reyes’ Visions in Action, Fr. Robert "The Running Priest" Reyes’ Gomburza and the Archdiocese of Manila through CARITAS-Manila, the Pasig River Heritage Marathon is sanctioned by the Philippine Amateur Track and Field Association (PATAFA).