CATBALOGAN CITY — “All set and ready to go.”
The 10th Rurumba Adventure Race this coming September 21-24, 2022 hosted by the provincial government of Northern Samar via its Provincial Tourism Office is now all set.
Governor Edwin Ongchuan said the event is very fun aimed “to promote sports tourism in the province”.
The governor believes that by holding this event, not only the sports among the young ones are promoted but also the tourist destinations are highlighted.
Started 10 years ago, the “Rurumba” was consistently co-organized by the Northern Samar Outdoor Federation, Inc (NSOF), Northern Samar Trailblazers, Inc. (NOSTRA) with partner municipalities of San Jose (Mayor Damian Luzon), Allen (Mayor Joey Suan) and Lavezares (Mayor Editho Saludaga) towns.
NOSTRA president Engr. Eliseo Allado and race director Anavil Lou Balanon said that as early as of September 16, “all system go (na kami)” as far as preparation is concerned.
In a publicly shared photos, several stand-alone tarps indicating control points, directions, mechanics and guidelines were seen on standby mode ready to get to assigned places.
Posters, event shirts, event IDs as well as giveaways from various sponsors are almost ready (now).
Marshalls, race coordinators, event support groups, rescue volunteers as well as the barangay LGUs and PNP were already briefed to guide and secure the participating adventure racers passing in their areas.
NSOF President Engr. Noel Obrar, who also served as Route Setter, told The Express that as of Friday, at least 16 teams are confirmed and ready to race and get dirty.
The Official Race date is on September 23rd and 24th but as early as September 20, many sprint race participants and its support teams / clubs will troop to Northern Samar to set up basecamp.
Engr. Obrar said each participating team will be given their race kits.
The following are confirmed Race Teams for this year’s Adventure Race.
1. TEAM DIRT – Tacloban City; 2. THE NORTH CAMPERS – Northern Samar; 3. THE HAPPY CAMPERS – Northern Samar; 4. TEAM DIRTIER – Tacloban City; 5. PALAPAG SIERRA – Northern Samar; 6. TEAM HAGANAS – (Western) Samar; 7. TEAM ILAJAS – Northern Samar; 8. LSC KAKIRAY – Northern Samar; 9. TEAM WILDER – mixed NS and Tacloban; 10. TEAM BERA – mixed NS and Tacloban; 11. TEAM IMMORTALS – PNP NS; 12. CAPUL ISLANDERS – Northern Samar; 13. TEAM CABIAS – Northern Samar; 14. PITAD ABAKNON – Northern Samar; 15. ISLAND CHARM – Northern Samar; 16. TEAM DISASTER – Northern Samar
Each team from various outdoor and mountaineering groups will try to out-scoop or test the skills and endurance capability of their competitors in terms of biking, hiking, running, swimming, land navigation and some surprise cultural tasks to be assign to them by the organizers.
Of the 16 teams, two teams from Tacloban City (Team Dirt and Team Dirtier) are among those that the spectators considered as “seasoned” racers as they already experience participating in both domestic and international adventure races.
Among the competing teams, only One Team represent Samar Province via Team Haganas from the Samar Mountaineering and Outdoor Club, Inc.
SAMOC’s entry, in an earlier media interviews, said they joined “just to have fun, meet new friends and gain experience in racing.”
Most of the racing teams are dominated by local racers courtesy of Northern Samar – based outdoor clubs.
Notably, one team – the “Team Immortals” are from Northern Samar Philippine National Police.
The race, also dubbed as “Carrera de Balicuatro con Carangian” is a 32-hour non-stop multi-discipline race that will pass through the barangays of Allen, Lavezares and SanJose, all in Northern Samar.
“The most challenging part of the race is the land navigation as participants need to locate a certain control points using only their knowledge in compass reading. One false reading (of the map) may mean losing their track,” said Obrar.
“A minute of mistake in calculation, or a delay in swimming, biking and running will result to a teams’ defeat. So, each team is expected not to stop the adrenaline rush for 32 long hours,” Obrar added.
Meanwhile, an official of the Northern Samar Provincial Tourism Office (NSPTO), said the event will coincide with the global observance of the World Tourism Day on September 27th.
For two consecutive years, the Rurumba Adventure Race bagged the 1st Runner Up as “Pearl Award for Best Sports Tourism Category” in the year 2018 and 2019.
For this year’s event, the province of Northern Samar made it more bigger, wider in distance, more challenging but with bigger prizes and rewards.
The province thru Gov. Edwin Ongchuan and the SP alloted a sumptous cash award of Champion P10,000 for the 2nd runner-up; P15,000 for the 1st runner-up and P25, 000 for the Grand Champion.
Finishers, according to organizers, will be given medals, certificate, a free beer during socials, and some surprise items for lucky raffle winners. (Pubmat courtesy of Rurumba Organizers)
(RICKY J. BAUTISTA)
