Story and photos by Ronald Rey M. de los Reyes
THIS scribe is fond of running. Hence, one fun run event that not just tickled my fancy but had me dazzled in awe for days was the Color Manila Run—a series of running activities around the country presented by Honda Philippines.
It’s not your usual running event wherein you hit the road with guns blazing as you compete against time and race for glory. Rather, it’s an out-of-the-box idea that has captured the hearts of thousands of Filipinos for its sheer unique concept of fun while on the run. With this, Honda Philippines was simply hooked and decided to hitch for one exciting ride.
“In Honda, we believe in providing the joy of mobility to every Filipino, which is why we sponsored Color Manila Paradise Run, the biggest and most colorful concept run in the country and spread the excitement and fun in different cities in the Philippines,” said Honda Philippines General Manager and Department Manager of Motorcycle Business Planning Jomel Jerezo.
“Through Color Manila, we can relate to the interests of the millennials through their fun lifestyle,” he added.
After conquering Clark, Pampanga, and Santa Rosa, Laguna, last March and April, respectively, Color Manila yet again sent waves to Taguig City and Cebu last month. To equal the high level of entertainment, HPI brought its colorful lineup of the new Honda BeAT together with its nine color variants at several venues while at the same time also staged a test ride course complete with its learn-to-ride program and free test ride of HPI’s automatic models. All these matched the fun and youthful vibe of the event while runners not only ran but also shook their own booties to the “BeAT” at the One Dream dance contest.
This writer joined the Taguig leg dubbed as: “Color Manila Challenge” wherein we had to tackle various obstacles while traversing the 5-km route at the tricky up-and-down roads within McKinley Hill. They had us skip, hop, slide, crawl and run while showering us spirited and willing participants with the infamous colored powders. To cap off the exhilarating experience, smashing music from Itchyworms and other DJs turned the whole event into one adrenaline-charged monster after-party. Here, gone were the usual medals, podiums, timing chips, clocks and the notion of personal records. For six years now with over 20,000 attendees per year, they have remodeled the meaning of “fun run” and have truly mastered the art of giving joy to every runner. Simply, everyone here came home a winner.
“In Color Manila, we have combined sports and art wherein people have embraced it. Our goal is simple. We want everybody to engage into a healthy lifestyle,” averred Justine Cordero, Color Manila cofounder.
“Moreover, we really wanted to bring in the real fun to the fun run,” she added.
With this, I may have to agree with her. ’Nuff said.