Dumaguete City Mayor Manuel Sagarbarria was up early last Sunday ready to fire the starting gun– a 105mm Howitzer canon of the Army’s 302nd Brigade–when a solider accidentally fired the canon a few seconds before the 5 a.m. race start.
But learning from previous marathons, this year’s DAM had back-ups for some of the most crucial items that could go wrong on race day. As everyone excitedly chanted the ten-second countdown for the race start, there was no more time to reload another blank round for the canon. Suddenly, the dark sky above the Dumaguete Business Park glittered with fireworks with a variety of colors and explosions of varying intensity.
On cue, a band played a wild beat to set the runners off. Marathoners first ran south to the town of Bacong, then west to Valencia.
Organizers of the DAM, led by Foundation University, changed the out-back route this that was used for the four previous marathons, to a loop so that runners could get to see more places and enjoy more challenges.
One new challenge was climbing the 660 meters to the Philippine-Japanese-American Amity Shrine in barangay Sagbang, Valencia. This historical place is considered sacred to the memories of World War II veterans and the peace-loving world because this was the scene of one of the bloodiest battles in Negros island.
From the shrine, they ran downhill, passing through Tierra Alta Subdivision and into Vicente Sinco Road (formerly the Dumaguete-Palinpinon Road) before returning to the Dumaguete Business Park for the finish.
As expected, the African runners dominated the event, garnering the first three slots. Filipino runner Arnel Bohol trailed the Africans by 19 minutes.
The official results are posted on its website Dumaguetemarathon.com.
Two barefoot runners survived the rocky trail and hot paved roads–photojournalist Bobby Timonera and police investigator/ultramarathoner Edilmar Manaban, who ran together from start to finish.
Explaining his penchant for running barefoot, Timonera explained in a Facebook post: “I seem to enjoy punishing myself, right? It’s easy to get 3-in-1 coffee but I prefer to brew my own, It’s easy to use a real Macintosh but I enjoy the challenge of the Hackintosh. Running a marathon with shoes? Who can’t do that?”
Aside from ushering in the Dumaguete City Charter Day and Fiesta celebration, the DAM is the only running event in the world that celebrates Rice and has the theme “Rice is Life.” It awards sacks of rice as prizes, making it easy for the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) to make it one of its events to promote the National Year of Rice.
Two runners from the Philippine Skyrunners Association, Charina Javier and Nina Dacanay, who placed 8th and 10th in the women’s division, respectively, also did the selfless act of donating their rice prizes to the Typhoon Yolanda victims.
One runner from Bacolod City, Kirk Portasio, summed up the DAM 2013 as “a whole new experience,” expressing his appreciation for the adventure trail, the scenery, the fruits, water stations at every kilometer, the medics, fireworks, band, and a hi-tech check in during the race.
This year’s run, powered by Sun Cellular, was also sponsored by Cebu Pacific, Philippine Rice Research Institute, Robinson’s Supermarket, Robinson’s Place Dumaguete, Go Hotel Dumaguete, Dumaguete Business Park, SL Agritech Corporation and Tierra Alta.
Other sponsors are SG Bank, EntheosIT, Greyhounds Events and Tours and the Institute of Youth Sports for Peace.
The next DAM is scheduled for November 16, 2014.
A corollary event, the Rice-is-Life cookfest, was held at the Robinson’s Dumaguete after the marathon with entries from local government units and high schools in Negros Oriental. Judges from some of Dumaguete’s top restaurants chose the recipe of the contestants from the Municipality of Manjuyod for best utilizing the main ingredient of rice mixed with corn grits. The Foundation University High School also won the school category for its brown rice recipe.
