Kibungan, Benguet – The wrath of Typhoon Lawin did not spare the Kibungan Mountain Run this time. The aftermath of Lawin’s rains and winds forced the organizer, Team Malaya, to cancel this year’s run.
Lawin badly hit this remote town making trails along its mountain slopes dangerous for hiking and other similar activities. As such, Kibungan Mayor Cesar Molitas issued a directive to ban hiking activities in the Municipality last October 24.
That development forced Team Malaya to cancel the run despite its desire push it through, considering the safety of the runners paramount in making the difficult decision. “Firstly, (the runners’) safety is the utmost concern and secondly, we always have to submit to the directives of the LGUs, thus, it is with great regret that we have to cancel this year’s Kibungan Mountain Run event.” said Stephen L. Felices, the event’s race director.
Aside from the perils of the Kibungan damaged trails, the runners would have to past the perils of the also badly hit Acop-Kapangan-Kibungan Road to reach their destination.
The run was earlier pushed to November 6 from the original date of October 16 due to Lawin.
In addition, the agreement in registration for runners provided the possibility of transferring the participation of the said run to another event handled by Team Malaya.
“Your participation is transferable. We may still move the Kibungan Marathon to a much later date, (probably in) 2017 already, or you can use your registration for Kibungan Mountain Run for our other events such as the Benguet Goldrush on December 4, 2016, the Sagada Marathon on February, 2017 or Rice Terraces Marathon on May, 2017 as long as you are running the same category.” stated Felices.
BY: ARMANDO M. BOLISLIS
