Big international cast vies in Subic run

MANILA, Philippines –  The Subic International Marathon fires off tomorrow with over a thousand foreign and local entries vying for top honors at the Remy Field at the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority.

Organizers have partnered with the Philippine National Police Corps Movement in assuring the safety of the race, backed by Chris Sports and Subic Residencias, over a course considered the safest and cleanest in the country.

“We observe discipline and cleanliness in the venue. We’ve heard several unfortunate incidents that happened in other running events, such as when a participant got bitten by a dog and a foreign competitor lost his iPod to a snatcher while passing by a street that is part of the race course. We don’t see that happening here in SIM because Subic Bay is a safe and clean place,” said Gen. Sam Tucay, founder of the SIM.

Events on tap in the race, supported by Smart Sports, 100 Plus Sports Drink, Summit Drinking Water, Deuter, Total Fitness, Subic EnerZone, Ceres, Global Destiny Cable, Multisport, OneSport and Jam 88.3 FM, are the 3K, 5K, 10K, 21K and the centerpiece 42K races.

Dir. Gen. Raul Bacalso will lead runners from the PNP. Bacalso is joining his predecessor retired Gen. Jesus Versoza and Tucay in competing against some of the crack local and international runners.

This year’s SIM will be run by Extribe, Inc.’s Eric Imperio, the man behind the 10-10-10 Pasig Run and the 70.3 Ironman Challenge.

“We want to pattern the race after the fabled New York Marathon,” said Imperio. “Runners will be given race chips, which we got from an Australian company, to monitor the time of the participants consistently.”