New Balance run to be held in Cebu July 8

AFTER A SUCCESSFUL staging of its inaugural leg in Bacolod City, the New Balance: Excellent Races Through the Philippines Series will be held next in Cebu on July 8 at The Terraces of the Ayala Center Cebu.

The Bacolod leg managed to gather around 800 runners, a good figure since running isn’t that popular in Bacolod recently.

Planet Sports’ Agnes Puno said any number of participants she and the rest of the organizers manage to get will be a development since they  just want runners to participate in the nationwide running series.

“We are just promoting healthy lifestyle to everyone,” said Puno during yesterday’s press conference at Bigby’s Cafe in Ayala Center Cebu. She was joined by ASAP’s Perl Jacalan.

The running event will feature 5-kilometer and 10k categories.  The organizers plan to have a separate category for Filipinos since Kenyan runners usually dominate races in Cebu.

Instead of banning foreign runners like other races do, organizers  are thinking of just putting up another category for Filipino elite runners.

In the Bacolod leg, the race was dominated by Kenyans based in Cebu. After Cebu, the next leg will be held in Cagayan de Oro and Manila.

Joel Baring will once again handle the technical side  of the race./CORRESPONDENT DALE G. ROSAL