Baguio 21K Feel the Hill

My 4th race for year 2011 and my 3rd out-of-town race for this year [Cebu 2011 marathon and Clark 21k being my other races]. Joining this race in Baguio City gives another breather for guys like me who need to have a break from the weekly Metro Manila races. This race brings back the excitement that I will sorely miss if I were to join races in the NCR. One thing for sure, it’s nice to be back to where I completed my primary education. Back in the 70’s, my parents “migrated” from Dumaguete City to Baguio City because my father, a civil and geodetic engineer by profession, worked for Benguet Consolidated Incorporated. We stayed in Balatoc Mines [note: Balatoc used to be “one heaven of a place” because back then, it was managed by Americans. We had the Crosbys and other American sounding names running Benguet until the Filipinos took over the management. I would have preferred the Americans running the management like heaven rather than Filipinos running it like hell.] for a little over six years until my parents decided to buy a house in Las Piñas. Balatoc is just a few kilometers away from KIAS, the turning point of the 21k race.

Back to this first ever 21k race in Baguio. Our group was really excited to join this race. Most of us took the Victory Liner De Luxe bus in going to and from Baguio City. Dexter Lim brought along his wife and friends Imma and Nhoree. These three ladies are now serious running enthusiasts, I suppose.

The route

With all the uphills and downhills that the route had to offer, one would think that this would be one of the more difficult races for the past 2 years. But gauging the course’s level of difficulty from the performance of the elite runners and the other fast-paced runners, I would say that the route is just as challenging as the other races nearby Metro Manila [Corregidor 21k, Biodiversity 21k and Makiling 16k]. I am very happy that all my friends did well in this race. Everyone enjoyed this short sojourn to the City of Pines.

21K

Rank Bib No. Name Finish Time Chip Time
46 2143 Quintin II Atienza 1:51:34 1:51:18
65 21128 Herbert Lee 1:56:16 1:55:59
67 2128 Jerome Aragones 1:56:24 1:56:17
72 21358 Lana Jacel Mercado 1:56:55 1:56:43
117 21359 Mark Anthony Mercado 2:06:38 2:06:25
122 2127 Mary June Villamor 2:07:09 2:07:00
193 21325 Grace Rivera 2:20:32 2:20:21
196 21129 Dexter Lim 2:20:49 2:20:33
219 21142 Teodoro del Mundo 2:23:58 2:23:42

10K
Rank Bib No. Name Finish Time Chip Time
37 1046 Maria Encarnacion 1:07:07 1:06:57
Cancio
131 1048 Immaculate Tiong 1:18:05 1:17:55
139 10190 Norielyn Fajilan 1:19:52 1:19:42
145 1047 Josephine Lim 1:21:28 1:21:18
166 1045 Jocelyn Lee 1:27:00 1:26:49


This race deserves a 3 star-rating mainly because of the following:

[1] challenging route and the nice 21k medal;
[2] there was no clogging at the finish line;
[3] medals and certificates were given immediately after a 21k runner crosses the finish line; and
[4] results were promptly released less than a week after the race.

Constructive comments:

[1] Race organizers must always think that the welfare and safety of the runners assume primary importance.
[2] Water stations need to be located within an interval of not more than 2.5 kms.
[3] Very few marshals manned the route. There were many portions of the route where there were no marshals to guide the runners, especially at the zigzag portions. Runners were left on their own. It was a “bahala na kayo” situation in some parts of the route. One good thing though is that runners were not left off to fend for themselves – some runners were kind enough to give warning signals to the other runners, even shouting at the top of their voices that a vehicle is coming their path].

View the results [source: Takbo.ph]by clicking the icon shown below:

Baguio 21K - 21K Results
Baguio 21K - 10K Results
Baguio 21K - 5K Results