All-women 50K night race set

CEBU, Philippines - One hundred fifty women will run 50 kilometers in Cebu on March 9-10 with a goal of finishing the distance in 10 hours or less. 

They will pound the major streets of the cities of Cebu, Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu in a night race called the All-Women Ultra Marathon (Awum).

The holding of the Awum is timed in March, International Women’s Month.

The Awum, now on its second year, starts at 10 pm of March 9, Saturday, at the Plaza Independencia in Cebu City, and ends at Cebu White Sands Resort and Spa in Maribago, Lapu-Lapu City.

Cutoff time is 10 hours or at 8 a.m. Breakfast prepared by the Lapu-Lapu City Government awaits the runners at White Sands.

The route covers mainly flat roads but includes the lower hills of Busay, the Marcelo B. Fernan Bridge and the Cansaga Bridge.

Twenty-four running groups have volunteered to set up hydration stations, spaced two kilometers apart. Awum runners are disallowed from getting pacers and personal mobile support.

Forty-nine male runners will act as marshals and secure the Awum participants from start to finish.

Medical teams and ambulances will be on standby at certain points of the route.

There are no cash prizes but the top finishers will receive gift certificates for an overnight stay in high-end resorts in Mactan. The champion gets the rare privilege of being crowned “queen.”

The Awum Queen will get a crown, a scepter and a cape. Merlita Dunkin was last year’s Awum Queen. She is not joining this year’s race and neither are the second and third placers Virgie Parajenog and Tessie Escasinas.

Instead of medals, Awum finishers will each receive a personalized plaque.

Race briefing and distribution of race kits will be today, Friday, at 7 p.m. at the Active Zone of Ayala Center Cebu.

Awum is organized by Think Tank, a non-profit group of Cebu-based ultra marathoners and the same group that organizes the 100-kilometer series. Joel Juarez is race director and he will be assisted by the Lapu-Lapu Amateur Radio Society and Emergency Network (Larsen). (FREEMAN)