Accoms in Sta. Cruz fully booked for race

RESORTS and other accommodation facilities in Sta. Cruz, Davao del Sur are already fully booked for the Mt. Apo Sky and Vertical Race which is scheduled on April 21 to 22, one of the activities of the Visit Davao Summer Festival (VDSF) 2018.

Since Sta. Cruz, Davao del Sur has limited accommodation facilities and do not have hotels yet, their eight resorts and other accommodation facilities were quickly fully booked even before the early weeks of summer.

For the tourists and participants who have yet to have reserved their accommodation in Sta. Cruz, Municipal Tourism Officer Julius Paner suggested to try the accommodation facilities of Digos City, just a few minutes away from Sta. Cruz.

The Mt. Apo Sky and Vertical Race was first launched in the summer of 2017, a year after the Mt. Apo fire, giving enough time for the burnt part to regenerate. According to Sta. Cruz Municipal Tourism Officer Julius Paner, this race is simultaneous to their Boulder Face Challenge, however the Mt. Apo Sky and Vertical Race appeals all the more to international participants as it requires purely running as compared to the Boulder Face Challenge that is intended for extreme adventurists.

This 2018, Paner said 170 runners from 19 countries have already registered for the Mt. Apo Sky and Vertical Race. Expected participants are from Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, United States, Spain, Indonesia, Thailand, and Mexico. This expected number is much more than the number of runners in 2017.

“We have opened the race to more runners this year because we have a lot of time to prepare. For the part of the security, we are more into coordination with the peace and order security. We are coordinating down to the barangay level,” said Paner.

The 2017 winner was Pablo Gonzales of Spain and Paner further shared that Gonzales is already registered and will still participate for this year’s vertical race.

The starting line of the

Mt. Apo Sky and Vertical Race will be at the Municipal Hall with the gun start time of 12:01 midnight. Participants are to run a 100-kilometer out and back course going up the mountain trail of Mt. Apo. Paner said they expect this to be a 30-hour race.

Paner also added that this race is being participated by international runners because of the international accredited points they give. This includes the International Trial Running Association (ITRA) Europe Performance Points, Ultra-Trail du Mont Blanc (UTMB), and the Asia Trail Master (ATM) Finisher Points.