Lapu-Lapu City to hold FunRun4Japan and Olango Challenge next weekend

Lapu-Lapu City to hold FunRun4Japan and Olango Challenge next weekend 
By Iste S. Leopoldo
Sun.Star Cebu
April 15, 201

LAPU-LAPU City will wrap up this year’s Kadaugan sa Mactan with two charitable sporting events on April 29 and 30.

It will start off with Lapu-Lapu’s first night race dubbed the FunRun4Japan on April 29 and the co-hosting of the 4th Olango Challenge Open Water swim the following day.

The run is a prelude to the first ever “Kadaugan Street Party” (KSP), which is also a fund-raising event for the victims of the tsunami that hit Japan.

The Japanese have been huge contributors to Lapu-Lapu’s tourism and economy. The huge percentage of tourists in Lapu-Lapu are Japanese and several Japanese investors have opened shop in the city like the ones in the Mactan Economic Zone.

“I got the idea about holding a race that aims to help our Japanese brothers, when I joined the ThreeSixty Night Race and saw Dr. Yong Larrazabal wearing a shirt about supporting the victims of the tsunami,” Lapu-Lapu City tourism and sports head Harry Radaza said in a press conference yesterday together with John Pages, Larrazabal and Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP) Visayas executive Jose Antonio Aboitiz.

“We all know Japan is a rich country but they need all the help they can get now,” Pages said.

Larrazabal has also successfully organized several fund-raising events such as those for the victims of typhoon Ondoy and the oil spill in Guimaras Island. He wore a shirt with the Japan flag during the Threesixty Race after he saw a lot of Asian runners wearing the same during the LA Marathon.

“The Asian runners were dedicating their runs to the victims of the tsunami,” Larrazabal said.

Meanwhile, the Olango Challenge is an open water swim, which aims to deliver basic services to the residents using the proceeds.

Aboitiz said that 66 swimmers have already signed up for the event, an improvement to last year’s 50.

“We also have participants coming from Manila,” Aboitiz said.

The swim also serves as an awareness and advocacy campaign for the environment in and around the island through the fund assistance of the Olango Challenge. It also wants to fund for the construction of classrooms, the provision of livelihood and the implementation of environmental projects in Olango.

This year, they will feature the competitive 6K and fun 2K category.