Two weeks ago, I formally organized “Team Bald Runner” as an elite group of distance runners based in Metro Manila whose aim is for its members to qualify for future international games and eventually, to the Olympic Games. My outfit, Bald Runner’s Events, provides the training and coaching; accommodation in Metro Manila and food/medical support; employment; and travel & food support to races outside Metro Manila. Initially, I have ten (10) athletes—7 male & 3 female. Most of these athletes are regular winners of road races in Metro Manila. I, together with my staff, manage these athletes and advise them where they are scheduled to compete. If there are cash prizes to be awarded to the top runners, for sure, Team Bald Runner is there. It should be noted that whatever cash earned by any of the athletes is his/her own to keep and we only provide them the necessary advise to save their earnings or advise them to send their earnings to their homes to support their family.

I was inspired to come up with this Team Bald Runner’s concept after reading about the different running team projects in the USA like “Team Running USA”; “NIKE’s Project Oregon”, and the famous “Brooks-Hansons Distance Project”. These projects had been in existence for the past 9 years.

Last week, Team Bald Runner won 1st Place for the Men’s & Women’s Overall in Cebu City and in one of the road races in Metro Manila.

For this weekend, Team Bald Runner joined the “Run For Pain” 8K Race last Saturday; “Takbo Paa-bilisan” 10K Race; and the 1st Mayon Trail Run in Legazpi City (Albay). Two of our female runners with the Team Bald Runner won 1st and 2nd Places in the “Run For Pain” 8K Race and “Takbo Paa-bilisan” 10K Race. And one of our male runners placed 4th Overall in these races, too!

Last Saturday morning, Team Bald Runner arrived in Legazpi City and immediately visited the Mayon Trail route with the help of the Race Organizers, Councilor Celoy Chan, Yves Yu, Martin Reynoso, and Charlie Chua, the President of JCI Legazpi, and crew members from a media outfit. The route starts at the City Plaza and goes all the way up to Lignon Hill, which is 4-5 kilometers away from the Start Line, and going down from Lignon Hill to cross the Yawa River, and a 5-kilometer gradual uphill run along the sandy-black lahar slope of Mt Mayon Volcano. The turnaround is at the end of the Lava Flow and back towards the peak of Lignon Hill as the Finish Line, after crossing the Yawa River for the 2nd time.

The race organizers provided all the participants in the 18K Mayon Trail Run with a dinner at the Lignon Hill Park. This venue provided all the participants to get their Race Packets and got to meet the other runners from Cebu City, from Manila, Laguna, and neighboring places/cities in the Bicol Region. I was able to meet Patrick, a foreigner and a runner, who brought the members of the Cebu Sky Runners (all ladies) for the the trail race and I had a nice conversation with him on the future of running events in the country. I also met Jundel, the Marketing Manager of The North Face who happens to be the main sponsor of the event. I was surprised to see Dr Tommy Tan of the Fairview Running Club and his company; a member of the Happy Feet Runners; and Carlo, who signified his intention to participate in the 1st Bataan Death March Ultramarathon Race next year. Final Race Briefing was presented by the Race Organizers and the members of the Jaycees International of Legazpi City after the dinner. We were back to the hotel at 8:30 PM.

The Mayon Trail Race started at 6:00 AM and there were almost one hundred trail runners who participated. As the “GO” command had been heard, I started my slow run along the streets of Legazpi City and maintained my pace up to the peak of Lignon Hill. Going up the trails and in-between big rocks on the slopes of the hill, I started to perspire a lot and almost drained the energy I was trying to conserve for the more challenging run at the sandy-lahar trail. There were improvised stairs one has to pass along the trail and ropes one has to grasp and pull in order to scale big rocks along the way. Once I reached the peak of Lignon Hill, the downhill portion became a problem because the trail is newly-made and it started to rain, making the newly-built trail steps on the steep portion of the hill slippery and muddy. I had to take one step at a time in going down the hill. As I reached the foot of the hill, here comes now the Yawa River we had to cross! I planned to remove my shoes before crossing the river on my way to the foot of Mt Mayon and on my way back to the hill, I planned to try my TNF M Arnuva 50 BOA “baptized” for river crossing and see how it performs.

Crossing the river was very easy but the challenge way up ahead and running towards the slope of Mt Mayon was the most challenging and hardest part of the run. We were glad that it rained and it was cloudy as we charged towards the end of the Lava Flow—the sand became harder and it was not loose and the temperature was cooler. The Lava Flow, the turnaround of the race, consists of big boulders/rocks whose size ranges from the size of our head up to the size of a car or even bigger but from a distance the black lava flow on the slope of Mt Mayon looks like a sand. Compounded with the sand and sometimes small rocks, it was a continouos gradual uphill run for the next 5 kilometers and it made my breathing so hard. Once I reached the turnaround, everything was going down but the sun had started to shine and the clouds just disappeared. It was already 7:20 AM and the heat of the sun was making me sweat some more and making my breathing harder. My Nathan Water Belt was with me and I did not stop to get and drink water along the way. GU sports gel also provided me the necessary energy to withstand the challenges of this race.

Once I reached the river, I never stopped and tried to walk with my trail running shoes along the river. The TNF Arnuva 50 BOA performed well underwater and once I hit the banks of the river, there was not much heaviness with the shoes. However, the last and the steepest part of Lignon Hill was facing me once I crossed the river and it was my longest 13 minutes to cover a vertical distance of about 150 meters to be able to pass and walk through the said trail where I barely walked and breathed heavily at the same time. There was no point to run or jog on this part of the trail. Once I reached the top of the hill, there was another 100 meters where I slowly jogged before the Finish Line. I finished the race in 2:13 hours and placed # 52 overall and was greeted by the hosts and other runners at the Finish Area.

I was happy to be a part of this Inaugural Mayon Trail Run and I would like to commend the Race Organizers—Councilor Celoy Chan, Yves Yu and the rest of the members of Jaycees International of Legazpi City, and The North Face for a wonderful, memorable and challenging trail run.

I was happiest when the Team Bald Runner was crowned as the “King of Mt Mayon” for winning the 1st & 3rd Place in the Men’s and 3rd Place in the Women’s Overall Category. My top runner received the cash prize of P 30,000.00 with the latest TNF Trail Shoes & Jacket and my other runner received P 10,000.00 and TNF Backpack for the 3rd Placer. My 3rd Placer Women won P 2,000.00 and TNF Hydration Backpack.