First night relay race in PH puts premium on ‘team spirit’

Asics Relay Marathon. Photo from asics.com.

A Japanese sportswear brand is introducing a new kind of marathon here in the Philippines.

From the usual individual races held at dawn, this new race launched on Wednesday is looking for four-member teams for a relay marathon at night.

The Asics Relay will make its first stop in the Philippines before holding events in other Southeast Asian countries like Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Singapore.

“The objective of the race is to create an event to emphasize the team spirit,” said Andy Neo, Asics Asia sports marketing manager, at during the press conference at Conrad Manila. “We know that people want to sleep in the morning and the evening time is perfect because you can sleep after and you will have more people to join.”

The event features a full 42-kilometer marathon, where each team member is required to run two legs of 5.25 km, and a 21 km half marathon, where each participant needs to run a leg of 5.25 km.

Winning teams will be awarded over P790,000 and the champion of the full marathon will have an automatic slot to any of the next four races.

HiVelocity managing director Adrian Mok said they expect to have 3,000 participants.

Filipino Olympian Mary Joy Tabal, who is also an ambassador for Asics, said running as part of a team, instead of as an individual, will put pressure not only on the runner but on the teammates as well.

“You have one thing in mind and that’s to win not only for yourself but also for the team,” said Tabal. “It’s going to be a different feeling because you’re going to push each other, pressure them, and pressure yourself.”