DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 18 October) – At least 100 runners from around the world are set to compete in the 8th Mount Apo Sky and Vertical Race 2025, a sea-to-summit adventure race slated for November 29 to 30.
During PEP Talks on Friday, Doi Calbes, race director, said that race organizers have prepared four categories to accommodate both seasoned and less experienced trail runners.
He said the 80-kilometer and 100-mile (160.9 kilometers) categories are for seasoned athletes, while the shorter distances of 21 kilometers and 42 kilometers are intended for racers who are less experienced in trail running.
Calbes said that this is the first time race organizers have introduced a longer and more demanding 100-mile category, requiring the participants to complete the course within a 48-hour time limit.
He said organizers are working doubly hard in preparing for the international race, which will start from Playa De Oboza Beach Resort in Santa Cruz town, Davao del Sur, up to the peak of Mount Apo.
Participants running in the 80-kilometer and 100-mile categories will scale the country’s highest peak via a trail in Santa Cruz, traversing the scenic boulder face that stretches 3.
5 kilometers to the summit, and then back to Playa De Oboza Beach Resort, according to Calbes.
He added that this year’s race will test racers’ endurance as they traverse multiple peaks, including Bamboo Peak, Mount Loay, and Mount Dinor, before reaching the summit of Mount Apo, the country’s highest peak.
He said confirmed runners include those from Vietnam, Japan, Australia, and the Philippines, including Manila and Davao.
The Mount Apo Sky and Vertical Race 2025 draws trail runners because the 80-kilometer and 100-mile finishers will earn them one point for the Asian Trail Master, he said.
The race, he added, is officially accredited under Asia Trail Master, a series of trail running events and races across Asia.
He added that a runner will earn the title of “Asia Trail Grandmaster” after completing at least six races within two years.
Mount Apo, also a popular eco-tourism destination, was declared a heritage park through the November 29, 1984, Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Declaration on Heritage Parks and Reserves.
It is among the eight ASEAN Heritage Parks in the Philippines and one of 38 in the 10-country regional grouping, which comprises Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.
Mount Apo (2,954 masl) is a biodiversity hotspot. It hosts the critically endangered Philippine Eagle (Pithecophaga jefferyi). It was proclaimed as a protected area under the National Integrated Protected Areas System Act of 1992. (Antonio L. Colina IV/MindaNews)
