Ironman to draw 2K athletes

Potholes were filled, traffic routes were finalized and the athletes’ medals have been commissioned from Cebu’s best international designer.

All these to welcome more than 2,000 athletes who will arrive this week for this year’s Cobra Energy Drink Ironman 70.3 Philippines.

The international triathlon is expected to fill local resorts with guests and take over a 56-mile bike route that crosses cities of Lapu-Lapu, Mandaue, Cebu and Talisay cities.

The Sunday event marks the second year that the Ironman 70.3 is being staged in Cebu and the fifth time in the country after Camarines Sur hosted the first race in 2009.

“This is the most intense preparation that we’ve done,” said Princess Galura, general manager of Sunrise Events Inc., the organizer of the Ironman 70.3 in Friday’s final coordination meeting with stakeholders held in Lapu-Lapu City.

“Kung dati, medyo nagkanya-kanya yung mga LGUs (local government units), this time, talagang lahat nagkakasundo-sundo, nagtutulungan na.” (If before, local government units acted separately, this time everyone is getting along and helping one another),” she said.

The race drew 2,150 participants or a 21 percent increase from last year’s attendance.

Participants came from 35 countries across six continents with Singapore having the biggest contingent (see related story on Page 28).

There’s also a bigger number of Australian participants while the event also drew  participants from Vietnam, Kuwait, Mexico and the Netherlands for the first time.

Mystery celebrity

The event will have athletes complete a 1.2-mile swim in the waters of Mactan, bike for 56 miles up to the South Road Properties (SRP) in Cebu City and Talisay City, then run a 13.1 mile course through Lapu-Lapu City.

Lapu-Lapu City will host the event in coordination with the Capitol and cities of Mandaue, Cebu and Talisay.

The races start and end at the Shangri-La Mactan Resort and Spa in Lapu-Lapu City, the same venue last year.

Australian Pete Jacobs, who won his first Ironman World Championships title last year will be back to defend his title.

Jacobs took part in every half Ironman held in the Philippines and will gun for his 4th title in a row.

A world celebrity in the music industry also signed up but his name is under wraps.

“He has confirmed his participation but I don’t want to name him yet until he gets here because he might pull out at the last minute and we don’t want to disappoint people expecting to see him. His schedule is erratic,” Galura of SEI explained.

Medals for this year’s participants and top performers of the Ironman 70.3 are designed by multi-awarded Cebuano designer Kenneth Cobunpue, who also designed the medals last year for Cebu’s first hosting of  the Ironman 70.3.

Executives category

A new race category for CEOs has been added for busy corporate executives in men’s and women’s divisions.

It is open to chief executive officers, presidents or managing directors of companies that earn $5 million a year.

Galura said the category was opened to accommodate CEOs who want to join the race but have less time  for training and practice because of their heavy work schedules .

Provincial tourism officer Mary Grace K. Paulino said a press conference will be called soon to announce details of traffic rerouting plans in Lapu-Lapu, Mandaue,  Cebu and

Talisay.

Traffic divisions of the four cities were asked to submit their traffic plans to the Capitol for coordination.

Road rehabilitation is also expected to be finished before a walk-through on Tuesday.

Galura said this year’s race preparations experienced better coordination and communication among LGUs in Cebu, an improvement from last year’s staging.

Stakeholders discussed concerns like crowd control, traffic, security, road repairs, communication and medical services involving the Cebu provincial government and four metro cities.

Lapse

Even stray dogs on the streets along the race route in Lapu-Lapu City will be given attention by the host city.

For crowd control, the University of Cebu will field 2,500 college students to man routes in Cebu to Talisay and 1,000 in Mandaue to Lapu-Lapu.

All volunteers will be made to face the crowd and not the athletes to avoid last year’s lapse in which student volunteers broke the security cordons  to take photos of participating celebrities.

All barangays along the race routes will field tanods to help manage the crowd.

About 50 portable toilets will be stationed along the route according to the Department of Public Services of of Cebu City.

The Federation of Volunteers through Radio Communication, Inc. (FVRC) Cebu will set up a command center at the Shangri-La resort and sub-command centers along the race route.

For security, the Central Command, Philippine Air, Philippine Navy and police were tapped.

The Department of Public Works and Highways, Cebu Port Authority, Cebu City’s DPS and  City Traffic Operations Management and traffic divisions of the four cities also coordinated with organizers.

In last Friday’s final coordination meeting hosted by Lapu-Lapu, all sectors joined hands in solidarity for the success of the international sports event.