Fair Play: Running in all directions

I’VE sort of promised not to write about running since that dude who looks like me signed up as a columnist. He runs regularly and is quite fast—though, I have to say, I used to run circles around him—and he knows running inside out.

But I have to take an exception this time because running is running towards a direction I
don’t like, a direction I am quite familiar with. The sport holds so much promise I hope it doesn’t end up the way football is now—which is a fraction of its former self.


I’ve always said one of running’s strengths is the absence of a body that oversees it, hence the absence of infighting, sanction fees, protocols and what have you.

Any group that wants to hold a run, can do so.

But lately, that strength is becoming its weakness.

The lack of a body that oversees the sport, I think, could wreck it—and the events this month will show that.

That run in Mandaue a few weeks ago, by all accounts, was a disaster.

It could have been avoided had there been a body that oversees the sport and makes sure events follow certain standards on water stations, distance and marshalls.

A sanctioning body could also discourage fly-by-night groups who take advantage of the sport’s popularity for the fund of it.

Another thing that’s quite bothering is the twin events scheduled this Sunday, and this is something that I admit, is a very tricky matter.

Holding two events in one Sunday is bad for the sport, since it divides the runners. It also tends to create some competition between the two organizers.

To be fair, it happens rarely but with the way every Tom, Dick and Harry wants to hold a run to support their cause or political ambitions—the last part really happened—this is going to be a big issue.

But here lies the tricky question: who should get the first right to a Sunday race?

Is it the group who announced their event first? Or the group who thought of holding it on that day first? Who should give way? Should anybody give way?

If the run is just for an exclusive group, well, there’s no question. They can do it every day and twice on Sundays. There’s no conflict.

But if a run targets the same audience, this kind of competition, in the long run, isn’t good.

I think it’s time somebody sets up a body to oversee running in Cebu. It doesn’t have to run all events, it just has to make sure events follow certain standards.

The issue of who gets to hold runs on a given day is quite tricky and the best that I can come up with is that groups who’ve held events before should get first choice—once or twice a year—for the events they’ve held before running boomed.

But dates should be left open for those who want to hold their own events.

Planning for these events takes a long time—I guess four months is a conservative estimate—so there should be enough time to clear scheduling conflicts.

I know I may sound too negative by raising this issue but let me tell you a brief story.

Once there were these two groups who professed they love their sport so much that whatever Group A does, Group B counters.

The two groups’ love for the sport was so strong that they fractured the community, you’re either with Group A or Group B. The love got so strong that the media men—at least our Manila brethren—got in the act and came out with a pooled editorial in the sports pages! A first!

The result? When we hosted the Southeast Asian Games, our basketball players were left in the sidelines because the Philippines got suspended.

I sure hope running is not going in that direction and the whole community can work together.