Today is the first day of the three days allocated by Condura for distribution of race packets for all runners in the different categories. Condura Run 2010 being one of the premier road races in the Philippines is expected to have a total of about 8500 participants. A sizeable number of participants by local standards in road race events. In the year that just past, majority of big events have failed in this aspect of a race event.
It was only during the Cebu City Marathon 01-10-10 that I have witnessed personally a successful and orderly distribution of race packets, however, the said event handled only a third of the Condura ran participants which in a way is a different ball game.
I have registered myself for 21k run, however, in view of the Takbo.ph and Reinier Pacific Aid Station that needs to be attended to during the race event, I have instead made prior arrangement with the organizers to transfer my registration and bib assignment to Ms. Melinda Delos Reyes a protégé runner of Coach Salazar. I did also have to collect the race packet for my daughter-in-law Pam who is to run her first 21k and her pacer Cris Dalida.
I arrived at the “Condura Village” at about 4:30pm and was delighted to see a long row of tents numbering at least 20. Each individual tent has a designated series of alphabet assigned to correspond to the surname of the runner and the race category they are entered into. There is even a designated tent for those who have lost their claim stub receipts and posted detailed procedure to accomplish/show on what to do on such case, a tent for foreign registrants, and other logistical needs and requirements. Overall, each tent is manned by one person with a number of staff roving about to collect and address problems between tents. It was a joy to watch an orderly movement of people.
We have arrived! We have done it! What has been a problem in the past is now a thing of the past. With foresight, dedication and will, long queues during this stage of a race event is now at par on how they do it abroad. Certainly, it is not cheap to accomplish such a task with logistical needs and manpower requirement. However, CONDURA made sure they handled this matter correctly.
I hope runners will experience these developments on their own for the next two remaining distribution days. If the first day will be replicated in the next two days, then I am sure that all will have a unanimous approval for the race packet distribution. Such an accomplishment is already a barometer that the race event itself will be a success.
CONGRATULATIONS to the organizers of CONDURA RUN 2010.
It can be done, it has been done!
Boss, the 21K and 42K bibs have no barcode stickers, whereas the 3K, 5K, and 10K bibs have barcode stickers. I already got in touch with Condura Secretariat about it and am waiting for their advisory.
ReplyDeleteI'm still disappointed that with the high reg fee, they were not able to supply timing chips.
Hi Sir Amado, I went there this morning about 11:30, they told me to come back at 3pm, dun pa daw ang 21k and 42k. "Nagkaproblema kasi sir" was the reply that met me. Ostensibly, this is to fix the barcode problem which I had no inkling of when I went there. Somewhat of a hassle but no biggie for me.Could be to other people though,specially those who commute. Am shocked that this sort of thing would happen though, I hold the Condura brand name in very high regard. Sob sob.
ReplyDeleteDear Noelle and Luis - Thank you for your comments. I blogged on what I experienced so it is very nice to receive comments or feedbacks from others to get a complete picture. I am sending a link of your commenst to Condura people whom I hope will be able to address the situation you encountered with two days still to go. However, I received email from Mr. Ton Concepcion that they are not taking any chances and will deploy for Friday and Saturday shall 100 reg.staff, 2 table per tent - 2 more people for the boxes so thats 6 people per tent and they shall increase their help desk.
ReplyDeleteHi Sir Amado, I got my race kit already, and my bib number had already been written at the spot where the barcode should be. I consider this a minor hiccup, and laud the lightning quick reaction of Ton and Patrick on the matter. HAving organized events myself, things like these always have a possibility of happening in spite of meticulous preparation. I am amped for Sunday's run, I always consider COndura to be THE running event of each year :)
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