A Passion For Fiestas: The BGC Passionfest 2014

The BGC Passionfest 2014 Car Plate emblem

The BGC Passionfest, held for the past 2 years, may well be Bonifacio Global City’s (in Taguig) version of its “town fiesta”, replete with entertainment, art and food exhibits, parades, sports, shopping and other outdoor activities. November is about that time of the year when the spirit of one of the country’s national heroes, Andres Bonifacio come alive with local and foreign visitors swarming along the streets of BGC to get the “fiesta” feel of this highly urbanized district of Metro Manila!

This year’s Passionfest which will be held on November 28, 29 and 30, 2014 is themed A BONI-FIDE URBAN FIESTA and will offer a breathtaking showcase of local performers and exhibitors alike.

As with the previous year’s events, the atmosphere will again be buzzing with people and anticipation will focus again largely on the street parades of performers in Pilipino costumes, the BGC-wide SALE of merchandise and if you want to sample local street food, hundreds of  food stalls would be lining up all around the area.

And for you runners out there, there will be the usual fun run dubbed, the RUN BGC 2014: URBAN ADVENTURE which will be an adventure race type of run where groups of 10 runners each will have to solve mind-boggling clues, tackle exciting challenges and explore BGC!

For those who have never experienced BGC’s Passionfest, reserve these 3 days of fun and adventure. Be there early, eat all the delectable street foods, have some beer, bring your cameras and make it a special time for the whole family.

Here’s a complete guide and description of the event:

BONIFACIO GLOBAL CITY HOLDS “A BONI-FIDE URBAN FIESTA”

TO CELEBRATE BGC PASSIONFEST 2014

Bonifacio Global City’s annual three-day event tradition dubbed BGC PASSIONFEST is set to once again fill the dynamic city with various activities focused on culture, art, fitness, lifestyle and most of all, FUN!

This year’s theme, A BONI-FIDE URBAN FIESTA, features a full Filipino fusion on November 28, 29 and 30, 2014, outlining everything that makes BGC the most passionate place to be—food, shopping, art, outdoors, games, fitness & entertainment. Every layer celebrates a city that is cut to fit life’s vibrancy.

Getting the ball rolling on November 28, A BONI-FIDE URBAN FIESTA begins with a Kick-Off Street Party where Bonifacio High Street literally comes to life with colourful Filipino dances staged in a bright parade at night. The grand street party also signals the start of the much-awaited Supremo Sale, opening the doors to the numerous participating BGC stores!

November 29 ushers in Run BGC with this year’s theme: Urban Adventure. Participants in groups of 10 must explore the city and its key features with obstacles and challenges to complete the mind-and-body experience.

Giving the Boni-fide vibe to BGC PASSIONFEST 2014 are the novelty street sights displayed in BONI-FIESTA. On November 29 to 30 at Bonifacio High Street. Your favourite street food such as kwek-kwek, fish balls, inihaw goodies are to be served on 9th Avenue and more; Local games of our childhood like patintero, chinese garter, a pabitin;

Filipino creativity at its best including Close Engkantos of the Christmas Kind: A Musical, an all-Pinoy BGC Art Mart, Jeepney Sign Art, DIY Saranggola, Chalk the Walk and musical performances; a Filipino Science Show by The Mind Museum demonstrating unique exhibits like Liquid Nitrogen Sorbetes, Apoy na Bahaghari: Science behind Fireworks, Sunugin ang Cedula! At ang Sweldo! (Burn Your Money Filipino Edition), Ang Agham ng Panahon: Science behind Weather; and Pinoy Food Science; as well as Skills Training for fellows in neighbouring barangays as a CSR activity.

On November 30, the second annual Parada de Kalesa will showcase dressed up kalesas available to take guests around BGC. The parade is accentuated by big bands complete with majorettes & street performers to bring that Boni-fide Fiesta feel to the city. The day continues with the BONI-FIESTA citywide activities culminating with Bonifa-SHOW, a variety show bringing together the best of Philippine entertainment in one stage! (Press Release)

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RUN BGC 2014: URBAN ADVENTURE

True to its trendsetting nature, Bonifacio Global City converts the typical fun run into a fast-paced citywide puzzle where BGC holds the pieces.  Teams for Run BGC 2014: URBAN ADVENTURE have to solve mindboggling clues, tackle exciting challenges, and play for amazing prizes.

Think you know the city? Run BGC 2014: URBAN ADVENTURE challenges everyone to prove it by joining the largest scavenger hunt in the country.  10 clues, 10 tasks in three hours.  Participants will be released in batches of 10 people and will be given 10 envelopes containing clue cards to the activities around BGC. After solving each envelope, they will be awarded with the location of the special tasks around the city.

The race starts by solving a puzzle to find the location of the first activity.  Upon reaching the area, participants will be asked to perform tasks that promote different activities and features that can be found inside the city.  It is a great opportunity for everyone to experience BGC like never before—giving them a chance to explore the city through the eyes of its workers like sell bus tickets, direct traffic, and help pedestrians cross the street.

Registration for RUN BGC 2014 opens on October 24, Friday and ends on November 28 or until all slots are filled up, whichever comes first.  Registration forms and run schedules are available on http://www.bgc.com.ph. Interested parties may head over to the following venues to sign up as a runner: Toby’s Sports (Glorietta, Mall of Asia & Megamall), Runnr (Alabang Town Center & Bonifacio Global City) or Brooks (SM North EDSA).

Registration fee for runners will be P500, that includes the following FREEBIES: Run BGC Souvenir Shirt, Water proof Race Bib, “Life representing” Flag Belt, and a Lootbag with goodies from sponsors.  Cash prizes await the best teams!

For more details, you may log on to www.facebook.com/BonifacioGlobalCityPH or www.bgc.com.ph

For more information about BGC Passionfest 2014, visit facebook.com/BonifacioGlobalCityPH or facebok.com/BoniHighStreet or contact us at 8183601 loc. 3104 or NMMagbitang@fbdcorp.com (Pam Magbitang).

Cold Morning Run At BGC

Last Saturday, me and my training buddies took a break from running our usual route around the Green Meadows, Temple Drive, White Plains area as we drove instead to Bonifacio Global City (BGC) and ventured once again for a 21k run to this now busy commercial hub where races seem almost de rigueur  every Sunday morning.

The rapid expanding skyline has definitely changed the running ambiance of the area where the open spaces and greens are now few and far in between and i kind of miss the fresh air and low traffic that was once the magnet for running in the vicinity. All is not lost though, when you start real early in the morning, when traffic is at it’s lowest and the air is not at its smoggiest.

And last Saturday had the coolest temperature so far around the metro (17.5 degrees) that we had to run a few extra kilometers more before we had ourselves break for sweat. An air-conditioned BGC or we were perhaps transported to the cool city of Baguio–that was the feeling! And it was great!

We zoomed past the area and visited nooks where races don’t usually cover it like Burgos Circle, parts of the American Cemetery, the Emperador Stadium, the inner parts of McKinley Hills and more.

Along Rizal Drive

Betty and Tonette

5th Ave near corner McKinley Road

With the still sleepy Leo

Walk-rest after taking breakfast at Pan De Manila

At one alley

At Burgos Circle

At McKinley Hill

“Thunder” beauties 😛

Emperador Stadium

On our way back from Emperador Stadium.

With Tita Betty

At the Mind Museum

At a playground

Running back for the last 3k of our 21k LSD run

It’s great to be running outside when the weather gets balmy as this. Find time, take your running shoe with you, go out, run and take advantage of the cool air! Offer lasts until 1st week of February only!

Happy running!

As TIMEX Goes By

It was great running the TIMEX Run 16k yesterday, almost identical to the festive mood i had running the 21k Go Natural Run the week before. Two back-to-back races organized by Run Rio and both were challenging and tough, although yesterday’s race required a bit more effort for me to run that i had nothing left of a finisher’s kick at the last straight before the finish.

There were a few odd things about yesterday’s run. For starters, there were already a sizable crowd of runners milling around the race area when i arrived at 4:00am. You don’t see that much crowd gathered as early as 4 when the first race, the 16k event starts at 5:10am. Maybe, the presence of heartthrob Piolo Pascual piqued many to come this early?

Secondly, Riovana was already buzzing with customers even before i arrived and you’d think that there was a post-Christmas sale going on inside as the store was nearly jam-packed! Thirdly, the run started going towards 5th Avenue instead of towards Serendra, a nice change of direction.

Early visitor at Riovana (Photo by Timex Sports)

Lastly, it was nice seeing the friendly Chinggay Andrada, professional fitness trainer of Pinoy Biggest Loser fame doing the warm-up exercises. I met her during one of Skechers’ shoe launching a few months back and she was just so warm, friendly and chummy that she immediately recognized me at the press tent during the awards ceremony yesterday.

Yesterday morning’s weather was pleasant, not so cool but not humid either. Piolo was up stage to fire the starting gun and as he went up the podium, shrieks and screams were heard, which was expected from the crowd. The starting line was abuzz with runners trying to shake off all stiffness in them. When the gun was fired, we were off and i settled of nicely and was with a bunch of runners who were trying to overtake the slower ones.  This was just a 16k race so i thought of revving it up a little bit too and go on with the flow.

Piolo firing off the 16k runners (Photo by Timex Sports)

I finally settled into a more relaxed rhythm and as the route was a familiar one, it was just my mind and body getting into sync while enjoying the festive aura surrounding me. I didn’t see Piolo along the route although i knew that he was running the shorter 10k distance with Coach Rio, i was still hoping that we would cross paths and get a glimpse of his running…form, cadence and all. He was trying to go below his standard 10k time of 47:53 something which i found out later that he was able too accomplish.

Before i knew it, we reached the turn-around mark along Buendia, just before reaching the corner of Ayala Avenue and at that instance i really felt awful already, struggling to keep pace with the runners i was pacing with. Before that, i even saw running buddy Betty who was in good form and ahead of me by a few hundred meters. Reaching the base of the Kalayaan bridge going back BGC, i was able to coast along the whole uphill span without stopping and those hill training at Meralco might have done a lot of good.

Cruising along Rizal Drive, i saw i sign that read last 2 kms and was skeptic at first because i knew that we were going to turn right when reaching 5th Avenue and that would be a few hundred meters more. Turns out that we would skip that part and turn left instead on the way to the finish.

I crossed the finish line, looked on top for the time and read 1:48. Not exactly a good time but one that i can live with.:-)

Note: Seems that i did a 1:50 according to the official race results which you can find here: http://runrio.com/2012/01/2012-timex-run-race-results/

Near the finish (Thanks to ARC and to Noel C for tagging)

It has been a great 2 weekends of running for me and the start of the year seems to be steps in the right direction. Big kudos to Gemma Pagsibigin of Timex for a great race and to Coach Rio for a job well done!

A quick glimpse on the press tent in pictures:

Lucky for you who won a Timex watch!:-)

Chinggay Andrada (2nd from left) with Gigi, Lara Parpan and Jaimie

Coach Rio and friends at the tent

Brooks Happy Run Recap

It’s tough to be at the receiving end of criticisms and complaints specially if you’re the Race Director of a major race that didn’t live up to expectations, even if it wasn’t the RD’s fault at all. At last Sunday’s Brooks Happy Run, the 15k runners who were already lined-up at the start were told there would be a slight delay before they would be fired-off. Five minutes had passed, then 10 and the runners became restless. Doc Marvs and i were standing just outside the starting line waiting for these runners to start so we could also prepare and line up for our 10k and 5k races which were to follow.

Fifteen minutes had passed and the runners were beginning to get incensed. I was looking at the 2 DJs nervously as they were continuously harping on other things to entertain them which only further agitated the runners. They should have just given an explanation why the delay was taking so long.

Little did we know that the cause of delay was happening a few kilometers from the starting area. It seems that the group which was contracted to deliver the water and set-up the water stations arrived late and had to scramble to get these ready before the runners arrived. This was relayed to us by one of the Brooks organizers, Julius who had just arrived from the area and hurry back to the starting line.

Race Director Thumbie Remigio had to make that crucial decision of delaying the start as he didn’t want the first wave of runners to reach Buendia Avenue without the water stations set-up first. So there. Definitely no fault of Thumbie’s but the delay have a trickle-down effect and it showed during the race. I was told that the water stations at the 15k route were set-up at irregular intervals, some of them had even run dry and marshals were not in their proper places.

Good thing for us 5k runners, there was nary a hitch on our run and except for the late start, we had adequate supply of water, markers were present and the marshals were at crucial positions of the route. I’m sure Thumbie will be able to improve from here as he has delivered well-received races in the past. Here are some pictures of the race:

Calm before the storm

The 15k runners were waiting patiently for the gun start

Crowd of runners have now swelled up to the tail end where the 10k runners already positioned themselves

Not even the banters of DJ Chloe helped in pacifying the runners as Doc Marvs, Jay Em and myself waited for our event to start

Some friends from the race, not one but three!

Brooks Run Happy Race All Set

During the early 80s when i was just starting to join the first running boom, i wore the Brooks “Vantage” which was one of my first running shoes. Back then, it was available at most SM Department stores and retailed at around P600-700 a pair. I liked the feel of it and along with the Saucony running shoes which was also available during those times, it proved to be a very good alternative to the Adidas and Nike brands which were the top picks of those times.

Since being re-introduced two years ago, Brooks has garnered a lot of accolades and has elevated the brand as a top choice among discerning runners of all abilities. An industry leader, Brooks is responsible for unveiling many breakthrough footwear technologies. In 1975, Brooks pioneered the use of Ethylene Vinyl Acetate™ midsoles (EVA) which is now an industry standard. Brooks’ patented cushioning technology HydroFlow®—which functions like a hydraulic shock absorber upon impact—debuted in 1989, and Brooks introduced PDRB® in 2002 to control excessive pronation. In 2006, Brooks tackled midsole innovation once again with the debut of MoGo, a midsole compound delivering increased cushioning, more energy return, and less fatigue—without sacrificing stability. The latest entrant to the midsole lineup, BioMoGo launches in July 2008 as the first-ever biodegradable running shoe midsole.

The new Brooks Collection

This coming May 22, 2011, Sports Resources, Inc under the stewardship of Mr. Rodolfo Claudio, will launch the Brooks Run Happy Race, a 3k, 5k, 1ok and 15k run to be directed by no less than Thumbie Remigio, to be held at the Bonifacio Global City. Registration Centers will be at most Toby’s Sports Stores, Runnr Store at BHS, A Runners Circle Store and Olympic World.

Although registrations for the race are now going, its launching was held last night with no less that Mr. Rodolfo Claudio himself gracing the occasion and the Adrenaline Multi-sport Group of Race Director Thumbie Remigio giving the race’s details.

Brooks Run Happy
May 22, 2011 @ 5 am
Bonifacio Global City
3K/5K/10K/15K
Organizer: Adrenaline Multisport Group (Thumbie Remigio)

Registration Fee:
Php 500.00 for 3K and 5K
Php 600.00 for 10K and 15K
With original Brooks singlet and finishers medal. Registration Starts on April 19, 2011

Assembly and Gun-Start:
4:00 am – 5:20 am: Assembly
5:30 am: 15K Gun Start
5:40 am: 10K Gun Start
5:50 am: 5K Gun Start
6:00 am: 3K Gun Start

Here are some pictures of last night’s events:

Mr. Rodolfo Claudio, patriarch of the Toby's and Runnr Stores

The crowd at last night's Brooks Happy Run launching

The race organizers together with Tumbie Remigio, Race Director (in red)

The Chummy group. Praying, eating or laughing?

Bloggers at my table, (l-r) Dhentz, Bards, Z and Jinoe

With the pretty Emcee from SRI

With Liza, Brand Manager of SRI

The "minimalist" Brooks collection

RACE ROUTES:

15k Race Route

10k Route

5k Route