CUC 100K trilogy

There’s a popular African saying which says “it takes a village to raise a child.” The same goes with putting together a race spanning 100 kilometers. In the case of the 1st Leg of the CUC 100K run trilogy, it took three towns and three cities.

With barely two months to plan and execute, the Cebu Ultra Runners Club and the Ungo Runners of Cebu managed to pull off a runaway hit – the 1st Leg of the CUC 100K.

The organizers rolled out the red carpet for 119 runners from the race briefing and carbo-loading at the Ayala Center Cebu Active Zone on Wednesday, to the 110 starters in the southwestern town of Pinamungahan, Cebu on Saturday and Sunday. The loop course was manned and at times illuminated by torch-bearing marshals many of whom were volunteers from the LGU’s. The runners had an ample supply of food and water at the aid stations located at intervals of 10 sometimes five kilometers and everyone who finished the race memorialized their 100-kilometer feat with a uniquely designed finisher’s medal and finisher’s shirt.

All these even if the organizers hardly had any cash to work with, relying mostly on the goodwill of sponsors, the Local Government Units and the volunteers from Cebu’s running clubs.

At the outset, the organizers had the runners welfare in mind. That the race started just after sundown on Saturday was no coincidence. It was meant to give runners 12 hours of cool night time weather enabling participants to run longer and cover more ground without having to deal with the scorching midday sun.

A runner performs better under cooler climes than when running under the heat of the sun or in humid conditions. Renowned marathon coach Jeff Galloway says “when you exercise strenuously in even moderate heat (above 15°C; above 13°C for beginning runners), you raise your core body temperature. This triggers a release of blood into the capillaries of your skin to cool you down, which then reduces the blood supply available to your exercising muscles. This basically means that you will have less blood and oxygen delivered to the power source that moves you forward–and less blood to move out the waste products from these work sites. As the waste builds up in the muscle, you will slow down.”

The 25-year-old Jieter Bada, a novice in the 100K ultramarathon distance finished in 10 hours 38 minutes and emerged as the fastest male, while Virgie Parajenog of Toledo Adik sa Dagan (TAD) was the fastest woman finishing the 100K loop course in 13 hours 43 minutes.

Out of the 110 runners who checked-in at the starting line, 94 runners or 85.5% made it within the 20-hour cutoff. Fifteen runners finished the race beyond the 20-hour cut-off while only one runner DNF’ed or did not finish the race.

The CUC 100K would not have been possible without the help of its supporters Ayala Center-Cebu, Corominas Bus, Smart, Leona’s Bakeshop, Jegan’s Bus, Congressman Pablo John Garcia and the Local Government Units of Pinamungahan, Toledo City, City of Naga, San Fernando, Carcar City and Aloguinsan. The working committee behind the CUC 100K is led by CUC president Tony Galon and with him are Dr. Humility Igana, Michelle So, Joy Polloso, Joel Garganera, Dr. Willie Estepa, Sheila Colmenares, Lulu Valiente, Napoleon Dela Torre, Dr. Alex Junia, the running Alicante couple Jun and Loi and Ervin Limpag. Ultrarunner Joel Juarez served as the race’s technical director.

The second leg this CUC 100K trilogy will be on November 2, 2012 and will mostly likely feature scenic routs in other town in Southern Cebu like Argao, Dalaguete, Badian and Sibonga among others.