by Pish Dadivas

The Dumaguete Adventure Marathon (DAM) 2011 is fast approaching.  With only a couple of months left till the event, the organizers at Foundation University are on their toes in a bustle to prepare for the run.  It is the first only full 42 km adventure marathon existing in the Philippines, thus participants–running connoisseurs–from all over the country are expected to take part in the event.

Indeed, streets all over the Philippines are teeming with masses of runners these days.  Races, fun runs, trail runs, and marathons are springing up all over the nation, with a present-day average of 13 events per week, as The Scientist Runner reports.  A resurgence of the running mania that first boomed in the eighties in Manila, running is apparently the “in” sport for Filipinos again today.

As always, Dumaguete has never been too far from the scene.  In fact, Dr. Aparicio Mequi, former chairman of  the Philippine Sports Commission and current chairman of the Foundation University Institute of Youth Sports for Peace (IYSPeace), recounts that even before the running boom was revived in Manila in 2009, Dumaguete already had a headstart in the new running craze.  The DAM takes its roots from the Rice is Life Leandro Sinco Challenge Races, which was first held in 2006.  As Doc Mequi reckons, the run started out from a campaign to promote the importance and conservation of rice.  Instead of medals or trophies, the event awards its finishers with cavans of rice.  Since then, succeeding races followed suit.  ”Other marathons now also have an advocacy, which started with our marathon having an advocacy,” he maintains.

True enough, advocacy is at the heart of the DAM.  Apparently it has never been enough to hold a marathon just for the sake of giving people an avenue to run.  In the case of the DAM, there is more to it than the outer causes, ie. the Rice is Life or Shoes for Children campaigns.  According to Dean Sinco, VP for Finance of Foundation University, the primary purpose of the DAM is to be an example of excellence in event management, specifically sports events.  He observes that the logistics of a lot of local sporting events he’s seen are compromised most of the time.  Thus, the DAM serves as a commentary and an initiative as to how event management should be done. Indeed, such efforts do not go unnoticed.  During last year’s run, City Mayor Manuel “Chiquiting” Sagarbarria said it would definitely put Dumaguete in the tourist map.  Also, Manokanrunner, a blogger from takbo.ph who came all the way from Manila to join the race, acknowledged how the run was very well organized.

Another fundamental cause is to bring people intentionally to the wild, into nature.  Sir Dean reckons that people nowadays are generally unaware of their environment.  ”They don’t know and haven’t seen where their water comes from or what the wilderness looks like–they just know it’s there,” he remarked.  This cause is vital for the Dumaguete community, since majority of the participants of the DAM are students in Foundation University, who are required by the school to enter the race.  The DAM gives the students an opportunity to experience nature themselves in order to understand and appreciate their surroundings.

Last year, out of the 3,869 participants, 3,511 are registered FU students, required to join either the 3k or 5k race categories.  This year, however, all the students are required to join in the quarter marathon (10.5km).  Doc Mequi takes pride in the fact that Foundation University is the only university in the world that requires its students to walk (in preparation for the race, primarily).  He mentioned that it is part of their initiative to make Dumaguete a healthy, walking community.  ”Ten and a half kilometers takes a lot of courage to walk!” he said, pointing out that values are not taught inside the classroom, but outside.  That’s why sports programs are important in any community; it is where camaraderie, loyalty, teamwork, and, most importantly, courage is learned.  For without courage, as a quotation by Edward Abbey goes, all other virtues are useless.

The DAM continues to strive to uphold its ideals, and as it does it targets to build a culture of integrity, excellence, and insight in the city.  If physical fitness and the thrill of the runner’s high isn’t enough to involve any person to take part in the run, then perhaps this invitation to be part of a greater cause for this city–and even the whole nation–would be enough of a motivating force.