Bontoc, Mountain Province is gearing up to host the first upcoming Southeast Asian Trail Running Cup scheduled from June 19 to June 23, 2024, to be participated by eight Southeast Asian countries.
The Southeast Asian Trail Running Cup is a biennial competition that gathers trail runners from the Southeast Asian regions including Brunei, Cambodia, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, and the host country–the Philippines, to showcase their courage in the challenging terrains in the province.
With over 200 elite runners confirming their participation in the said event, the competition will display athleticism and cultural exchange. Likewise, it also serves as the platform to showcase the landscape and natural beauty of Mountain Province to the world.
According to the Bontoc Local Government Unit (LGU), they expect that the activity is not only a trail-running competition but also serves as a stepping stone for the promotion of tourism in the municipality.
Bontoc Mayor Jerome Tudlong, Jr. mentioned that he is looking forward to declaring the municipality as the “Trail Running Capital of Northern Luzon” if the mountain trails of Bontoc become a favorite spot for runners.
As the competition is fast approaching, Mayor Tudlong also encourages Philippine elite runners to participate actively during the training.
Local Athletes Participation
Christable Martes, a participant in the short trail category shares her excitement in taking part in the competition, “I am excited in joining the first South East Asia Trail Cup. I’ve been running for 32 years, my 3rd year in trail running. As a playing coach for the national team, it is a two-way challenge, to race against your athletes and to race against their coach.”
Martes highlights the learning experience this event offers for coaches and the privilege it presents for Bontoc tourism. She believes that the local community will get to experience and watch how international athletes perform and showcase the best of Filipino runners.
The event will take the runners through mountain ranges, fire forests, and pine forests to waterfalls, rivers, rice terraces, and grassland in Bontoc.
Addressing potential challenges
With the large number of participants arriving in the municipality, the Bontoc LGU prepares for potential challenges. The preparation purposefully ensures the safety of the runners and the success of the event. One of the challenges raised is the lack of parking spaces.
Valiant F. Fantiyao, Municipal Executive Senior Police Officer of Bontoc Police Municipal Station, stated that the problem in Bontoc is parking space because of the large population. There are already many tricycles. Now, they expect that the upcoming activity will draw more vehicles into the municipality. Therefore, their initial coordination was to pinpoint a parking area. The LGU then suggested school parking spaces during this vacation. He added that the foreign visitors will have a designated parking space in their building.
“Isuro mi nalang a nasayaat jy pag-paradaan da (We will just show them where to park properly),” he stated regarding the assistance they can provide for the visitors using vehicles that will be coming during the said trail run activity.