Last year, a friend of mine who is also a local ultra runner joined an event which is called Quadzilla Marathons in the United States. It is a succession of 4 Marathon Races in four days where one Marathon Race is done every day. My friend finished the said event and he did very good. This event inspired me to think and come up with the idea that it could be done also by my local ultra running friends here in the Philippines. There is no need to go to the United States to experience this event.

In a spur of a moment, I was able to find a schedule for the conduct of the said event in four successive days that would culminate on my country’s Independence Day which is June 12. Knowing that my place of birth, Laoag City, a city in the northern part of Luzon in the Philippines, is the center of road network in the province, I selected it as the Start and Finish Areas of those 4 Daily Marathons.

In twelve hours, this event will have its First Edition. Knowing that this an event that is something new in the country, I did not expect much runners to join this event. However, I have ultra running friends who are willing to test to themselves this new challenge. I will be happy if I will have at least, ten runners as “pioneers” of this race.

Each Marathon Race will start at 1:00 AM every day in front of the Provincial Capitol (located at the heart of Laoag City) and the course is an “out and back” (to and from the 21K turn-around point) for easier management and logistics support to the runners. The Marathon Race has a cut-off time of 6:30 hours! It is expected that the event is finished by sunrise and before the vehicular traffic in the city starts to be heavy. Since the event will be done after midnight, the runners will experience cooler environment but they are required to wear headlight and reflectorized vest during the run for safety.

Each day, the course will be different. We will see how the runners will be able to apply their daily recovery and what feedback they would be able to impart to the other runners.

By the way, aside from being the Race Organizer and Director, I am also the Host for these invited runners.