Takbo Para Sa Kalikasan Year 11 - Takbo Ng Masa

After being sidelined for most of the days the past week due to flu, it was a welcome relief on my part to put to test my recovery regiments. At 4:30am, I was already on my way to Quirino Grandstand in Luneta and had my radio turned on at 630 AM Frequency which is the sponsors for TAKBO PARA SA KALIKASAN which is now on its 11th year. The radio announcer was mentioning that the expected crowd participants for all race categories will sum up to about 5000+ runners. Considering that this race is one of the few remaining races that is on the P200 entry fee budget limit, I was a bit surprise that it did not attract more participants.

Entry to the holding pen was opened at 5am which was earlier than normal, but, was quite ok as there was an ongoing entertainment program just on the side of the starting line. I started to look around the holding area and could clearly come to a conclusion that the demography of the participants are not the same as those of the "commercialized races". There where a lot of contingencies from PNP and different government agencies, but, very distinguishing aspect is that there are more participation from NGOCC and running clubs. One particulars observation I could make is that there were more participants convoyed on public utility jeeps.




As I was early, I watched when Piolo Pascual was introduced to the public (God the girls did go crazy). Vice President Noli De Castro was the guest of honor and made a short speech and of course and head of the movement for Pasig River Miss Gina Lopez was present as well. A great relief while awaiting for the starting gun were the MCs whom I appreciate very much their comedy and entertainment at so early in the morning. But, as the event was a running event, the 10K participants were given a count down and released at 5:57am and these was followed in interval next by the 5K and lastly the 3K events.

The race route is the usual route along Roxas Boulevard only this time beginning and ending at the Quirino Grandstand. I have just taken the same route a couple of weeks before for the PSC "Run For Your Heart" and I am beginning to like this route. It is one of the simple routes to control so you do not have the risk to fight for the road with vehicles. And the best factor for this kind of event is the view of the Manila Bay with the usual Sunday morning crowd doing their thing at the "boardwalk" and at the "Cultural Center". Nice to see families bonding on their own simple and inexpensive way.

01h 02m 29s after the released from the starting line, I crossed the finish line for a total distance of 10K as per my Garmin 310xt.




There were still a lot of things going on the stage as I exited the holding area. I wanted to stay a little longer and watch the crowd as well as the program, but, I need to hurry up to catch my Sunday morning church mass.

I have always enjoyed these P200 races at Roxas Boulevard. They are very basic, but, are safe and complete with hydration stations along the route. I hope that others will support these kind of races as well specially if Rudy Biscocho is the race organizer then you are fairly safe to say that it will be a well organized race.

The race has placed me back to healthy state. Great Sunday Run. I hope that Mother Nature (KALIKASAN) was given its due importance by the race event. Congratulations to DZMM for the 11th year of TAKBO PARA SA KALIKASAN.