The email I received from TK Davao last September 1 indicated that the venue for
the September 5 race briefing and carbo-loading is the Pantawan Hall at the Grand Regal Hotel.
There were reminders that included No
Slippers, No Sandals and No Minors. This email got my sober attention and it told me that the
organizers are dead serious in making
the DC2DC Ultra happen in a big fun way. Ordinarily, race briefing for ultras that I have joined (except for the
BDM) is done an hour before the race itself. Got me smiling and excited about my trip to Davao City.
Fast forward to Friday and fellow
83nean Ernie Badong and the Bicolano Penguin entered the Pantawan Hall to a
warm welcome from the organizers. Although I have not met them in person
and previous communications have been solely via facebook, TK Davao mainstays
like Paul, Pam and Gary made sure to make us feel at home and assisted us in
claiming our race kits. Other ultra participants like Hydz of Panabo Runners
Club (PRC) and several of the Petron
runners inside the hall were all smile
and courteous. What also caught our attention was the big lechon being prepared
on the buffet table and a bunch of ripe
bananas and sweet lanzones. This is no
ordinary carbo-loading.
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| Claiming our race kit |
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| With Hydz of PRC and Pam of TK Davao |
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| Ernie by the lechon |
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| Contents of the race envelope |
Pretty soon, the Pantawan Hall
was filled with runners of all shapes, sizes and gender. Everyone though had
their eager smiling look.
Then the program started. Say what? A program for a race briefing?
Yup. A program started with a prayer and a national anthem. And the
singing of the anthem was not done thru some canned video but actual singing by
the audience ably led by a lady TK Davao member. It made us more alive and more
importantly, made us one with the rest of the runners in that room. This is a far cry from the usual race kit
distribution of some fun runs in Metro Manila where, given the big corporate sponsors,
commercialism rules the day and much of the sight and sound you see are about
this product and that product.
Then came the opening remarks by both Paul and Gary.
After which, the
special guest was introduced and this was none other than the ultra running
icon from Cebu, Mr. Tony Galon who is the president of the Cebu Ultrarunners
Club (CUC). He talked about his passion
for running and shared some of his training regimen for the gruelling 280-km
South to North Ultra Marathon Cebu from Santander to Daanbantayan. But true to his self-effacing nature, Tony would rather talk about and
commend the 7 Davao-based ultra runners
who survived the CUC-KMK 160K Ultra Marathon held in Cebu last August 23-24. Asking the magnificent 7 to
go up the stage with him was a class act
from a class guy.
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| Opening prayers led by Rowland of TK Davao |
Then came the opening remarks by both Paul and Gary.
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| Opening messages from Paul ... |
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| ..and Gary |
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| Tony with the 7 Davao runners who participated in CUC-KMK 160K Ultra |
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| BP with Tony |
Dinner was served and to our delight, we got to have quite a
serving of the lechon. Dinner was also a time to get to be acquainted with some
of the runners sharing our table. Particularly congenial were Rory Cunan whose
parents hail from Oas, Albay and the husband-wife tandem of Dr. Richard John
Millan and Vangie Millan. They were kind and patient enough to help me understand some of the
Cebuano words in the talks being given by the speakers.
Interspersed among the talking
and the eating was some raffle done by TK Davao. The prizes were courtesy of
the sponsors and the Bicolano Penguin got lucky for the first time in a
run-based raffle. I heard my name called and the prize
I got was a good-looking Aktib shirt. The night keeps getting better
after all.
A discussion of the route and
guidelines of the DC2DC ultra was ably undertaken by the Race Director – Jay
Inte of TK Davao. He firmly said that
the race would start at 8pm sharp in front of the Digos City Hall. He proactively pointed out that given the
fiesta atmosphere in Digos, the support vehicles would have difficulty parking
near the starting area. He then recommended that the support vehicles first
waiting area be the Shell gas station at the outskirt of the city proper. He
emphasized the need for headlights and reflectorized vests in the “ngitngit” of
the road. He intimated that the race organizers would be generous in awarding the finisher’s
medal. Even if the runner crosses the
finish line beyond the 12-hour cut off (but as long as there is no cheating), he said that the runner would still get the medal. He announced also with confidence that the DC2DC ultra runners would not
go hungry as there are stations every 10 kms (at most) which are stocked not
only with water and Gatorade but also some energy-boosting nourishments like banana and boiled egg plus
local delicacies in certain stations like durian in Km 30.
These pronouncements were met with enthusiastic applause.
The next part was totally
unexpected for me but proved to be the highpoint of the September 5 race
briefing. It was the awarding of
Certificates of Appreciation to all the teams that joined DC2DC. And first to be called is our very own 83NEANS
(the running group of the Ateneo de Naga High School Batch 1983). We were only 2 entrants but I guess 2 makes a
team. We are happy as this is the first time that the
83NEANS has received this kind of a certificate. Many more teams were called
with Team Titans Davao being the largest delegation at more than 24 runners.
The symbolism I take away from this awarding of team certificates is the
primacy of teamwork in a challenging venture like an ultra marathon.
I do believe that teamwork is
very much espoused by the members of TK Davao which is celebrating its 1st
anniversary. It was key for them in
pulling off this extraordinary race briefing and carbo-loading event which
proved to be an engaging foreplay to the main event scheduled 24 hours later.
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| Rory, Vangie and Doc Millan |
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| The BP receiving the raffle prize |
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| Aktib shirt |
These pronouncements were met with enthusiastic applause.
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| Race Director Jay with some assistance from a fellow TK Davao member |
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| Ernie with the RD |
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| All smile in getting... |
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| .. our very first Certificate of Appreciation |
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| Team Titans Davao |
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| The all-wacky yet all-cohesive Team Kapwa |
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