NatGeo Earth Day Run gathers large turnout
THE ninth staging of the National Geographic Earth Day Run proved to be a rousing success as it was able to gather over 16,000 “eco warriors.”
Took place at the SM Mall of Asia Grounds on April 22, coinciding with this year’s celebration of International Earth Day, the event saw committed runners bursting with energy from the 2 a.m. assembly through to the conclusion of the run at 9 a.m.
For this year’s edition of the run, organizers reopened the 3K fun run category alongside the 5K, 10K, and 21K distances.
They said it was all in the hopes of reaching a bigger audience across a wider demographic which they were able to achieve as each distance group saw healthy participation.
The large turnout, organizers also underscored, proved that there is a large and diverse group of people willing to run for a cause.
As has been the case in the past, the Earth Day Run encouraged all of its participants to become advocates for the most pressing issues threatening our planet.
This year, NatGeo partnered again with the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Philippines and their #NotPlastic campaign to tackle plastic use and how something so deep-seated in our dayto-day lives is impacting the earth.
“[Using plastic] is something that people do every day without realizing or thinking twice about it. We hope to educate people on the very real impact of plastic use and highlight what they can do to help fight this issue,” said Charo Espedido, FOX Networks Group Head of Marketing, of the thrust of the run.
To live up to their mission, organizers made the event plastic-less, where each runner was provided with their own reusable water bottle, included in their race kit, which they could refill at various hydration stops throughout the course of the run.
Participants were informed in advance that there would not be disposable plastic or paper cups at the race village or along the route.
“It was encouraging to see so many people support Earth Day Run’s efforts in reducing plastic use. Hopefully these sentiments are things that all the runners will take away and share with others,” said — Jude Turcuato FOX Networks Group GM and SVP.
Race organizer for NatGeo Earth Day Run 2018 was RunRio Events, Inc. —