LUNA, APAYAO – Five elementary pupils competing in the “Kadang-kadang” or stilt run indigenous game earned Baguio City’s first gold medal during the opening of the 2019 Cordillera Administrative Region Athletic Association (CARAA) Meet on Wednesday, February 27.
The team is composed of five pupils with Nover James Eladjoe of Dona Aurora Elementary School as the captain. Eladjoe is joined by Z-u Lead Bing-il also from Dona Aurora ES together with Jeric Sobanggi of Pinget Elementary School, John Sawadan Jr., and Henzie Hynz Polittod, both from Pinsao Elementary School.
The group was able to finish the relay in 1 minute and 91 milliseconds to bag the gold medal besting Kalinga’s 1 minute and 6 seconds to settle for silver while Benguet settled for bronze with a timeclock of 1 minute and 7 seconds.
Coaches Eric Bugtong and Laurence Delos Santos were both elated that the Baguio team was able to snatch the gold medal for the first time since the Kadang-kadang run relay was introduced five years ago as a special category in the CARAA Meet.
Last year, the Baguio City delegates garnered the bronze medal in the Kadang-kadang run relay as the gold medal was bagged by Mountain Province while the silver medal was garnered by Kalinga.
“This is the first time that Baguio city won gold in Kadang-kadang,” Bugtong said owing that the teams from the provinces are more experienced and it took time for Baguio City to catch up.
Delos Santos on the other hand said that the Baguio City delegates have prepared well for this year’s competition with the aim to improve its bronze standing last year to a gold medal.
The Kadang-kadang run relay or stilt run was introduced in 2013 as part of the CARAA Meet for the Elementary Division in consonance with the Indigenous Peoples Education (IPED) Curriculum of the Department of Education.
In Kadang-kadang, participants will stand on a wooden stilt with the step measuring one foot from the base as a standard rule. The fastest to finish the run among the competitors will be announced as the winner.
Since the Kadang-kadang run relay is a special category for the CARAA Meet, the winning teams will not be advancing to the Palarong Pambansa but their earned medals will be computed as part of the overall standing of each of the participating provincial and city delegations.
Jessa Mardy Polonio-Samidan/PIO
