Race Review: Run BGC

Run BGC, on its third year, has raised its game a notch higher by introducing a twist in the usual running circuit. Apart from the traditional 3k, 5k, and 10k race categories, race organizer RunRio included a game of Flag Football for 3k and 5k distances.

Flag Football is an innovation of the real American Football where a player gets to play inside a football zone and be tackled by defenders. But instead of “full-contact” tackle, players get to wear a belt with flags on the side. Participating runners for the Flag Football categories will try their best to go to the end zone without losing any flags that can be pulled by the defenders. After which, a runner will proceed to his running route to finish the race.

Hundreds of runners ventured out in this new and exciting game last Sunday, November 27, 2011. The Flag Football category is part of BGC’s promotion of its various developments in the coming months. A part of the seven new developments now under construction is an actual Flag Football field that will serve Filipinos who may want to experience the feel of playing real American Football and might find their niche in this kind of sport.

But for serious runners like me, I stuck to doing the usual 10k run on barefoot. For me, running this distance is a great challenge as it is, because prior to this race, I already covered a 10k barefoot run at the One For TREES fun run in Binangonan, Rizal just a day before. Despite the mild fatigue I had, resulting from the previous run, I didn’t mind because I’m confident that BGC is a very barefoot runner-friendly course, at least the ones I’m used to running on.

But then again, I spoke too soon, because the course of this year’s Run BGC was quite different from what I expected. The routes, most especially the 10k, cover a different area of BGC where most of the on-going constructions are located. So, the roads were mostly wet, peppered with sand and cement, much of which were damaged by heavy equipment. For a moment, I wished I had taken my chances on the 3k Flag Football instead. But it’s too late and the path I was on was already at hand and there was no other way but to conquer the obstacles.

The stretch of the construction site was long so I proceeded with extreme caution. So far so good in the first 2k and, after the stretch, I was on a pavement I’m quite familiar with. After a quick inspection of my soles, I got back on my game. The whole race route for the 10k was a big loop around BGC. For any consolation, at least the dreaded Kalayaan flyover was not part of the route.

After the race, most runners stayed for a while to witness one of the race’s highlight which was the grand raffle draw of the trip for two to Australia. Not only that, the lucky winner gets to join a marathon in Sydney with all-expenses paid!

Prior to this, while the hosts where raffling off some minor prizes courtesy of BGC and its sponsors like RioVana and Soleus watch, the audience was treated to an unusual dance showdown entertainment at the expense of the participants themselves. It was a contest between ten female and male runners in the tune of “teach me how to douggie”. As much as most of the contestants were too reluctant to participate at first, things suddenly started to heat up when some of them almost went overboard and danced almost half naked just to win a prize. That scene surely blew our socks off :)

* Photos to be updated soon. Edit - Dec. 26: Some photos borrowed from Run BGC's Facebook album