2 Olympians in Ormoc for first-ever laser run

LEYTE, Philippines — Two Olympians are in Ormoc City for the first-ever “Ormoc City Laser Run 2018,” a sport that they hope to propagate with the help of Mayor Richard Gomez, the president of the Philippine Modern Pentathlon Association.

They are Deniss ?erkovskis and Bernhard Petruschinski, both pentathlon athletes, who have joined several Olympic games and are now technical experts of the Union Internationale de Pentathlon Moderne. They just came from Egypt where another similar event was held on February 27.

The two explained that the laser run is a combination of two sports from the five of pentathlon, which also has fencing, swimming, and horseback riding.

They are advocating for the sport all over the country, as developing pentathlon athletes is rather difficult in some countries like in the Philippines where there are not many horses.

It was also explained that the modern pentathlon is named as such because it now uses laser guns, instead of real pistols like in the past.

Petruschinski said they were happy with the laser run in Ormoc.

“You have a mayor who is a famous athlete, and he knows what to do,” he said, adding that the Ormoc venue was beautiful.

He also said he has known Gomez for more than four years already and they often talked about an event like this.

“We’ve been talking about this, and now, it’s happening,” he said.

The Ormoc Laser Run attracted 374 participants. A total of 41 children joined the under 9 years old category, 50 for the under 11, 51 for the under 13, 35 for the under 15, 49 for the under 17, 12 for the under 19, 106 for the open junior and senior, 20 for the 40+ years old, 8 for the 50+, and 2 for the 74+.

Registration was P350 per participant but free for those under 17 years old, the military, and the police.

Gomez said he was happy with the Ormoc City government’s hosting of the sporting event. (FREEMAN)