How was the Metro Dumaguete Roadrunners Club established?
The Dumaguete Roadrunners Club started in 2001 with a group of former school varsity runners who had a dream to develop young athletes’ potential in sports and wellness through organized fun games and competitive events that can someday help support their respective academic pursuits. We also had a dream of organizing and managing well a series of running events.
We knew each other from way back; we used to meet in the 1980s during trainings in the field or on the road, or for other social purposes. A number of us were scholars as varsity players of our respective schools. We never considered our families’ economic status as an obstacle in our sports. Some of our competitors were running with the latest apparel, and some of us were running barefoot.
Then the City Sports Office asked the fledging DRC to organize a running program for the City, and advised it to get accreditation from the City government to be able to qualify for financial support.
And so we had the Bengay Fun Run in Dumaguete; it was the first and last run organized that year. The DRC simply stopped meeting after that.
In 2003, the active among us called for meetings to revive the group, and to formalize the organization.
By 2004, we started running as a group on Saturdays along Rizal Blvd. and the streets of Dumaguete. Then we moved the running to Sundays starting at the City Park. We would regularly conduct 3km and 5km road runs around the city and ended up with breakfast of lugaw-champorado or coffee-pandesal.
By August 2005, we set up office at 112 Silliman Ave. In 2006, we finally registered the Metro Dumaguete Roadrunners Club (MDRC) under the Securities and Exchange Commission.
We referred to our goals as THEY (Tourism, Health, Environment, Youth).
Thus far, what has been MDRC’s track record of organizing fun runs and races?
The roots of the marathon program in Dumaguete dates back in 2004 when MDRC, together with Silliman student volunteers, launched the regular running activities every Sunday.
In November 2004, MDRC organized its first race — the Dumaguete City Fiesta 5K and 10K, with 46 participants. There was no positive reception from Dumaguete Fiesta Committee that time, so MDRC conducted the event with its own meager funds.
Then MDRC organized four running events in 2005: the Brgy Taclobo Fiesta Run on Jan. 16, the Couples for Christ 3k Lovers Fun Run on Feb. 27, the Ituloy ang Takbo Laban sa Droga sponsored by the SK Federation on May 7, and the 2nd MDRC 3k, 5k, 10k Fun Run on Nov. 27. Again, this was not considered in the City Fiesta calendar.
In 2005, MDRC decided to give away rice as prizes. We realized that parents encouraged their children to join races as pamugas [figuratively, as a livelihood/source of income].
Finally in 2006, MDRC got some support from the late Mayor Tuting Perdices who sponsored some sacks of rice. Chiquiting Sagarbarria, who was then tourism committee chair, provided funding for the printing of the race bibs.
That year in 2006 was busy. MDRC did: Sports Outreach in Manjuyod on Feb. 12; a forum on Dumaguete Running Sports Program with speaker Dr. Aparicio Mequi on March 3; the Dumaguete Marathon Clinic on April 9; World Red Cross Red Crescent Day 5k Run-for-a-Cause of the Philippine National Red Cross PNRC on May 8; World Blood Donor Day 5k Fun Run on June 14; Leandro Sinco “Rice is Life” 5k Challenge on July 23; International Humanitarian Law Run on Aug. 20; “Peace One Day” Peace 3k, 5k Run on Sept. 23; World Food Day 15k Challenge on Oct. 15; Dumaguete Fiesta: World Run Day on Nov. 3; and the Extreme Adventure Challenge with GP Rehab on Dec. 3.
The Nov. 3, 2006 event was the first running event included in the Fiesta activities with funding support of P30,000 from the City Sports Office.
In 2007 and for the next three years, the City Fiesta Committee started conducting fun runs as the City Fiesta opening salvo.
In 2007, MDRC gained support from the Perdices family who poured in P40,000; and logistical support from Foundation University as partner in the promotion of running.
In July 2007, Foundation University institutionalized the “Rice is Life” as FU’s marathon campaign banner. By November, FU, in partnership with MDRC, held the first and biggest running project dubbed as the Dumaguete Marathon. For that month in 2007, this University Town had two running races: the Dumaguete Fiesta Opening Salvo Run, and Dumaguete Marathon (renamed as the Dumaguete Adventure Marathon in 2009).
From 2008 until 2010, events that were initially conceptualized and organized by MDRC (like the Sunday running clinics) were subsequently adopted and spearheaded by FU.
By 2011, MDRC organized 13 roadrun races, including the Silliman University Run to Educate, and the Tanjay Fiesta Run.
What else does MDRC do, aside from road running?
MDRC does orientation for how-to-organize races. We conduct group discussions to encourage the community to run and to organize fun runs. We explore eco-tourism projects (trail running). We do clean-up drives. We partnered with GP rehab on projects that help “mainstream” children-with-disabilities.
What challenges have you dealt with?
Organizing the MDRC and finding leaders who can work voluntarily is hard to come by.
Undertaking a road race event requires a huge logistical and manpower support. We have always faced financial difficulties, but we eventually manage to survive so far.
Children without the proper running shoes was an issue way back in 2006 after the Milo Marathon in Dumaguete. In fact, the Metro Post posted a commentary on that issue of shoes. We can’t expect 2,000 public school children to buy proper running shoes just to run Milo as instructed by their teachers.
MDRC trains about 20 children-runners mostly from indigent families, and fortunately, they have good-enough shoes that either their parents bought from ukay-ukay, or certain “sponsors”/kind-hearted friends gave them.
MDRC believes that a healthy program in a community is one that is divided between a school-based sports program (DepEd school meets and varsity competitions), and a private sector-based wellness program.
Proper nutrition should be taught in the school sports program.
Every year, MDRC raises funds to provide a full meal (dinner) for our children-athletes for about 20 days before a competition.
Current local competitive runners, whom we have supported since they were in elementary or high school, continue to struggle to find means to pay for registration fees for races. That is why MDRC tries to keep race fees in Dumaguete as minimal as possible.
What fruits have you seen from your weekly running activities?
We regularly train on weekdays, and we race on weekends. Regular training runs and progression races encourage more people to run, and eventually form their own running clubs.
Since 2007, MDRC has successfully helped organize the Tanjay Runners Club, and the Mag-abo Amlan Runners Club. Soon, the Bacong Running Club will be formed.
Dumaguete Amateur Runners & Striders (DARS) is a manifestation of MDRC’s effort to provide training technical assistance.
In December 2010, DARS expressed to us at MDRC that they wanted to run 21km in the Cebu City Marathon in January 2011. So we decided to break the comfortable 10k flat distance they had earlier run, and challenged DARS to run the Balili, Sibulan uphill route to stretch their endurance further. We also held two-hour training runs.
Then DARS wanted to train and finish a 42K in January 2012. For that, MDRC designed the following in 2011: Race for 350 Trees 10km uphills in April and June; the 16K Run to Celebrate Life in July; the Way Buga 21km to Amlan on July 23; Duyog Mindanao 21k in August.
Night runs was also incorporated starting in April 2011 to ensure that DARS runs at least three times per week, with a long-slow distance on Saturdays.
Would you have a success story of at least one MDRC runner who has made Dumaguete proud?
There are many. The point is, MDRC is doing these not necessarily to finish top all the time. We’d like to believe we are also developing a lifetime attitude among our runners and the community of living a healthy lifestyle.
Whenever we have an MDRC-trained runner who crosses the finish line first — and it is not a rarity — we are proud of him/her because it is his/her personal achievement, and we were part of it.
MDRC is simply proud, period, whenever our friends and runners cross the finish line strong.
