Now That's an International Race!

Yesterday, I joined some 8000 runners in Nike's We Run Manila 10k, and I'm impressed with how the race was organized.  Sorry, I'm not prepared with a camera, but I will try to describe here what I saw.

The staging area was neatly organized, with different tents for Nike+ Lounge, race organizers, media, baggage, and finisher's kit redemption.  Nearby are portable toilets neatly lined up.

Then there's an opening that leads you to the starting line.

Along the route were hydration stations with approximately 50m long tables, manned by neatly dressed personnel equipped with gloves and hair nets, serving cold water and sports drink.

You would also notice some photo and video professionals covering the event.

Marshals were all over, guiding and cheering all runners.  Kilometer markers were also available.

Crossing the finish line, the runners were guided towards the finisher's kit redemption area, where water, sports drink, mini-poster and a letter were given.

The letter says something about the finisher's token, which is the 2Gb USB Thumb Drive.  Something went wrong with the production, and that it didn't met the deadline.  You can't blame them, the Asia-Pacific region was struck by a number of storms/typhoons the past few weeks.  And I'm still impressed how the organizers were able to manage the production of 8000 letters neatly inserted in an envelope in such a short notice.

Then there's the concert party everyone's looking forward to.

Congratulations Nike We Run Manila team, especially to Coach Rio dela Cruz, and RunRio, Inc.