1st Cebu City Dragon Boat Festival set

CEBU, Philippines — Everything is already in place for the "1st Cebu City Dragonboat Festival" on June 16-17 at Il Corso in South Road Properties.

The race, held in partnership with Kabya Bisayas, a dragon boat race organizer and technical group from Negros Oriental, Bohol, Siquijor and Cebu, features men's, women's and mixed categories under the 300-meter small boat event.

Cebu City Councilor Jerry Guardo said the event will be part of the city's sports tourism program.

"It was a dream of mine to promote Cebu as one of the top sports tourism venues in the country," Guardo said in press conference yesterday at Quest Hotel Cebu. "I considered dragon boat as one of the sports that is good to promote sports tourism. I already envisioned Il Corso in SRP as a perfect venue for dragon boat races but we don't have a technical group to handle the event, so when Kabya Bisayas went to my office and presented their event, I think it would be a good partnership."

Guardo added that part of their plan is to bring more aqua sports in SRP as well as for Cebu City to host an international dragon boat race in the future.

"We want to make the SRP a lively venue for water sports. We want to contribute in making SRP a lively venue for aqua sports that would attract more tourist. We are bringing more aqua sports in SRP and dragon boat is one of them and I am very glad that a lot of teams have already expressed interest in joining this race."

The city government has alloted P244,000 for the two-day competition that is expected to draw over 20 teams from different regions.

The top 3 winners in each category will receive P20,000, P15,000 and P10,000, respectively.

Entry fee is pegged at P500 per athlete inclusive of a souvenir shirt and opening dinner. One may register through the event's official Facebook page at Cebu Dragons or contact Naty Oson at 0908-718-6427. (FREEMAN)