Benefit run to show support for PH Paralympic Team

MANILA, Philippines—With the Olympic games now over, its time for the Paralympic games to shine.

Filipinos—athletes or non-athletes, able-bodied or differently-abled—have been invited to join a benefit run to show support for the Philippine Paralympic Team.

The Philippines has sent nine of its best paralympians to London to compete in the Games which will be held from August 29 up to September 9.

The benefit run, organized by Summit Natural Drinking Water and Shadowfax Events, has been held to “boost the morale of the athletes by generating enough participating runners to publicly demonstrate the [Filipino’s] … support for the Philippine National Paralympic Team.”

“Government does not pay much attention to them. Its up our fellow countrymen to give honor to them,” Lawrence Plata, General Manager of Shadowfax Events, said in an interview with INQUIRER.net Thursday.

“Joining this benefit race is one way of giving them honor and support,” he said.

The benefit run which is now on its third and final leg, will be held on October 20, 2012, at the Venice Piazza, McKinley Hill, Taguig City.

Plata said that they hope to get 3,000 participants in the upcoming run. The first leg had 2,000 participants and was held on January 7, in the Bonifacio Global City. The second, held in Cebu City, managed to get 1,400 participants, Plata said.

All the proceeds of the event will be donated to the Philippine Sports Association for the Differently-Abled (PhilSPADA), the National Paralympic Committee that spearheads all activities for Filipino persons with disabilities.

“We invite our fellow countrymen to join and support this benefit run for our Paralympic Team,” Plata said.

The Philippines has only won one medal since it first joined the Paralympic Games in Seoul 1988. Adeline Ancheta won the bronze medal in powerlifting in the 2000 Sydney Paralympics.

Ancheta will compete again this year with Isidro Vildosola, Roger Tapia, Beariza Roble, Achelle Guion, Agustin Kitan, Josephine Medina, Marites Burce, and Andy Avellana.