EARTH DAY RUN is not just an ordinary running event in the Philippines, it’s an event that promotes sustainable living and supports environmental advocacy utilizing the popular platform of running in its seven years of operation. It is considered as one of the biggest and most anticipated runs in the country.
Now on its seventh year, National Geographic Channel’s Earth Day Run will be going international. The Earth Day Run 2016 will be happening simultaneously for the first time in five cities across the region: Singapore, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Tai Chung, and Manila. Each city’s race will be using support from the registration of all participants to help raise money for World Wide Fund for Nature and its projects.
In the recent presscon held in Resort World Manila, friends from National Geographic Channel shared to members of the press on what to expect on this years’s Earth Day Run. They showed this year’s run categories, fees, routes, singlet design and their beneficiaries.
Earth Day Run 2016 will be held in all cities on April 17, 2016. In Manila, organizers of the event are expecting 20,000 runners that will participate in a race course that spans Bonifacio Global City and McKinley West.
What I like on this running event, each participant can help our Mother Earth. You are giving the option to choose your beneficiary. Each one can choose from these categories: OCEAN– to help the marine conservation for the Apo Reef in Occidental Mindoro; WATER– for the reforestation of the Ipo Watershed in Bulacan; SPECIES– for protection and conservation of Irrawaddy Dolphins in Palawan; and CLIMATE SOLUTIONS– for the infrastructure of Earth Hour Village in Masbate.
On the previous Earth Day Run, NGC was able to plant 36,000 fruit-bearing trees in a watershed in the Abuan watershed in Isabela, in the Sierra Madres region. Not only was the watershed partially reforested but local farmers were also allowed to care for and harvest these trees for themselves. In 2014, Earth Day Run’s proceeds went to training fishermen affected by Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda) on how to make and use fiberglass boats, which can better withstand the hard weather common in the Philippines and allow them to continue with their livelihood. Last year, NGC was able to provide portable solar-powered lighting kits to the Tawbuid Mangyan tribesfolk in Mindoro, giving them and Forest Rangers’ camps safe and sustainable light sources off the grid.
Earth Day Run 2016 expects to register 20,000 runners this year, and slots for 5K, 10K, 21K and 42K are open via online registration through the regional site www.natgeoearthdayrun.com, which leads to the Nat Geo EDR sites for each country. On-site registration for the Manila leg will be open until March 31 at the Ground Floor of SM Aura Premier in BGC.
Participants will get singlet, race bib, RFID timing, finisher shirt (21K & 42K) and finisher medal (21K & 42K).
NGC, together with its partners, aims to create awareness on the benefits of climate change solution, climate justice, endangered species protection, watershed management, and food security through the World Wide Fund for Nature. It is hoped that Earth Day Run 2016 will reach more people throughout the region and inspire them to care more for the environment and find more sustainable ways of living.
Meanwhile, NGC is seen on SkyCable Ch.41, Destiny Cable Ch.55, Cable Link Ch.58,Dream Ch.28, Cignal Digital TV Ch.76, GSat Ch.14 and over 300 cable operators nationwide.
