Category Archives: Race Announcements

New Balance has officially announced the postponement of its New Balance Power Run slated for tomorrow to November 29 instead due to bad weather and flooding.  I got this message from Bing Buenaventura at 12:30pm:

We wish to inform you that the New Balance Power Run Raising Hope is postponed due to weather conditions making it impossible (flooding) to set up and stage it properly tomorrow morning. The new date of the NB Power Run is November 29, 2009, Sunday.  Same venue.  Weekends in between are fully booked.  Please mark your calendars and keep your race kits for additional perks.  

Kindly check your favorite running blogs, radio, and other media announcements.  For any questions, call New Balance stores and Planet Sports registration stores ONLY.* 

Thank you very much for your understanding.

* According to NB, there is an anonymous texter sending false New Balance advisory and confusing runners regarding race packets.  Please make sure you get your race information from a credible source.

Great job to ExTribe and New Balance who managed this situation very well.  They decided promptly (and wisely) and they didn’t leave us all to wake up in the wee hours of race day morning to wonder if the race was pushing through.

Now, I need to run 21km tomorrow.  It’s in my program and I told myself when I committed to this that there would be no excuse for skipping a run.  So, I’m left with two choices: 1) run and die of boredom on a treadmill, or 2) run under the rain and have a grand time (aah, fond memories of EcoDash are getting me all teary eyed.)  If the wind isn’t too strong (and I don’t have to swim my way through the floods), I’ll probably run with friends in Makati or the Fort.  

To all the crazy runners out there who will do the same, I’ll see you on the road!  As Sen. Pia and Coach Ani said on Run Radio, it’s rain or rain!

All Systems Go for New Balance Power Race – Sept 27, 2009

– 6,000 runners have registered for the race
– Only 3k slots are open. All other race distances are closed.  (Sorry guys, but NB said they will strictly implement this. It’s a lesson for all of us runners to register as early as possible and respect the race organizers’ decision to limit the number of participants to ensure a safe and well-organized event.)
– Anton Gonzales, President of New Balance/ Planet Sports, says “It should be lots of fun and we hope and pray for sunshine that day.” If I may say so, Anton, I’ll be there to run—rain or shine, but I’m hoping for rain!

Introducing: New Balance Premiere Run – Sept. 26, 2010

As early as now, New Balance has announced and is, in fact, already planning for their premiere race next year. Needless to say, they want to make this race a spectacular one. I think it’s perfect that Standard Chartered races abroad will be sponsored by New Balance (e.g. Singapore), hence they’ll be picking up a thing or two from those. (They should have the same singlets as SC Singapore Marathon where you can jot down your race time at the back of the shirt! Ehem ehem)

NB recently told us their plans for the NB Premiere Run. Remember: these are all plans. If you have violent reactions or helpful suggestions, speak out now:
– 15k and 25k
– Out of town
– RFID High Definition Timing Chip from Australia
– NB Lightning Dry technical tees from abroad as singlets
– finisher medals and recovery kit available for all finishers
– sales promotions with free invitations
– promotions for the new NB 1906 model
– expo the day before, Sept. 25, 2010

Ton and Patrick Concepcion are please to announce that the Condura Run in 2010 will feature a…drumroll please…full 42km marathon!  

The route is being finalized, but it will go from the Fort up Kalayaan Buendia flyover and up the Skyway all the way to Bicutan for the turn-around point back to the Fort.  The route shall also take the marathoners to the on and off ramps of Naia 3.  

A 4-man marathon relay is also being planned so that 10k runners will have the opportunity to run up the Skyway.

Condura is making the announcement this early so that runners can begin training for the event, which is 5 months away.

With this great news, it turns out that we Pinoys don’t have to fly off to Hong Kong for an early 2010 marathon!  Are you as excited about this as I am?!

My friends and I were chatting about the running boom recently, saying how we’re not even at the peak yet. We wondered how running would evolve in the months to come: the expected increase in numbers of registrants per race (if Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon can reach 50,000 registrants.  Why can’t we?), potential growth of trail running, ultramarathons, and triathlons, and the possibility of running and races trickling down to other areas of the country. For the latter, it looks like it’s starting to happen with major race events (aside from the Milo series) heading for the provinces. Isn’t it great?!

1) TNF in CDO. This will be an awesome race to join. After my thrilling TNF experience at Clark, I’m seriously tempted to try it again. But, CDO will have to wait.  I cannot just abandon all the great marathons in Manila during October and I have to start saving up for Singapore!  Maybe next year if they’ll have a second run…

2) Cebu Marathon. This is one race to look forward to. It would be a wonderful reason to travel and a good alternative to racing abroad. Click here to visit website.

3) Camsur Marathon? I heard rumors of a Camsur Marathon in the works right after the successful Ironman 70.3 last month. This would be a great race too, if they start very early to beat the heat (which I heard was a killer at Ironman 70.3.)

I predict more provincial races in the months to come.  Perhaps the good people at Cebu Pacific or Philippine Airlines can offer discounted running packages to spur the growth of running and local tourism at the same time?  Great idea, huh?

I dropped by Runnr this afternoon to register for New Balance Power Race on Sept. 27 and I was shocked to discover registration at Runnr was closed.  In panic, I asked Bing of New Balance where I could still register for the race.  She replied that, as of today, runners can still register only at the following stores:

• Planet Sports Rockwell
• Planet Sports Trinoma
• New Balance Festival Mall
• New Balance Glorietta
• New Balance Shangrila
• Runnr – starting tomorrow Sept. 11, Friday

Lesson learned:  With running at a boom nowadays, register as early as possible.  The early bird catches the race bib at the cheapest fee.