Run
United is back, after a nearly three-month break. And as the cliché goes, ‘the
third time is a charm’. Last year, in fact, a record number of runners
estimated at over 14,000 participated in Run United 3.
Run
United 3, the third leg of the Run Rio Trilogy, has always been much
anticipated because it offers what is dubbed as the ‘Afroman distance’ or 32k
category—not usually included in other run races. Of course, on top of the
other race categories: the Ceelin 500m dash, 3k, 5k, 10k, and 21k.
“The
32k Afroman Distance in RU3 can be a preparatory race for the full 42.195km
category in the upcoming 1st ever Run United Philippine Marathon
slated on October 28. RUPM will still have the shorter categories: 500m dash,
3K, 5K, 10K, and 21K.” said Alex Panlilio, Head of Unilab Active Health (ULAH).
Meanwhile,
according to premiere race organizer Coach Rio dela Cruz, the runners’
anticipation over Run United 3 will be all worth it as new features and
surprises await them on September 16. For one, there will be new routes as well
as different starting and finish lines again for Run United 3 in the 21K and
32K categories, like in the previous two races for 21K.
The
32K runners will have a gun start at Bonifacio Global City (BGC) starting at
3am, an hour ahead of the 21k runners. They will be led from BGC to take their
first 10k in University Parkway area, then move up to Kalayaan Flyover. Then,
they will go all the way down to Buendia, take left at Roxas Boulevard, turnaround taking the roads of Vicente Sotto, Diosdado
Macapagal and on to EDSA before finally turning left at Seaside Boulevard for
the finish at the Mall of Asia (MOA).
The
21k will have an earlier gun start at 4am compared to Run United 2’s 430am.
They will have the same route as the 32k runners, but instead of going to EDSA
they will turn right after Macapagal Avenue, turning right at Seaside Boulevard
and then all the way to the finish line in MOA.
“Run
United 3 runners will get to run across three cities— Taguig, Makati and Pasay.
Based from the feedback we got from them, they really enjoyed the experience
and the new routes. The earlier gun start of both race categories will give
runners a safer route as well,” said Dela Cruz of RunRio Inc., the race
organizer.
Online
registration for Run United 3 started on August 6 and will continue until
September 2, 2012. In-store registration will start on August 13 and will be up
to September 9, 2012. Registration venues include Riovana in BGC and Katipunan,
Quezon City; and Toby’s at SM Mall of Asia and Trinoma.
The
runners will receive their complete race kits upon registration (Active Health
Sun Visor, Singlet, Bib with B-Tag and wrist tag for 500m dash runners). The wrist tag for 500m dash kid’s runner which is
usually given on race day will now be included in their race kits upon
registration.
Run
United 3, which is for the benefit of Gawad Kalusugan and Children’s Hour, is
part of the ULAH running series. Run United started with only 8,000 runners
when it was launched in March 2010 and the numbers have steadily grown in
succeeding events. An estimated 14,000 runners participated during its last
offering— at 2012 Run United 2.
Run
United 1 on March 4 started off this year’s RunRio Trilogy, followed by Run
United 2 last June 17. Runners who completed all the longest distances
(21k-21k-32k) in all of the three Run United races will be recognized at the
RunRio Trilogy Awards Night.
Fun
and exciting activities await runners and their family at the Active Health
Village, new and bigger Active Kids Zone, Runners’ Lounge, I-Connect Zone, The
Food Pavilion and Health, Sports, & Leisure Zones.
