Skyway Marathon: An open letter to the organizers

Hi mam/sir,

First of all, congratulations to the success of the recently concluded Skyway Marathon yesterday. I have no doubt about how it was well organized from the program till the awarding ceremony, I give it a big thumbs-up. 16K++ runners who signed-up and did their best to become part of the Philippine Marathon History!

However, one of them was quite disappointed. He did his part in the race but he didn't received his finished medal. I registered very early for this race last December because I was so excited for my 6th full marathon. I haven't done my Cebu City Marathon yet but I made sure that I will run this event. This is where my I made my FM debut. I was eyeing for revenge as I really didn't like my results last year so I promised myself that this year I will redeem myself.

Alas, a few misfortune happened as race day came by. First, I lost my wallet due to negligence where I put all of my receipts. Second, I lost my racekit when my mom/dad threw it away accidentally when they were cleaning up my room. I discovered this exactly the night before the race so I have no time to look for a spare racekit nor tried to contact the organizers. I searched for your contact number to ask if I can still run the race but alas, I can't find it in the skyway marathon webpage.

This shattered my hopes for the race. I was really planning to abandon the idea of running this race but some of my friends encouraged me to continue despite of what happened. After a few mins. of contemplating and having no sleep, I decided to suit up and go to the fort. I will run my 6th FM. I thought to myself that I paid 1.2K plus for this marathon so why should I not run it even if I didn't have my race number with me. Plus the love of running made me decide to go to the starting line.

It was really difficult. I didn't have any sleep before the race. I have no idea on what will happen to me during the race. I performed well, paced with a fellow runner during the first 28 km then eventually slowing down because I felt some cramps already. At km 34, I walked and stretched, felt dehydrated and almost collapsed on the way to the takbo.ph aid station. Thank God for the Samaritans who helped me continue this race.

To cut the story short, I finished the race fair and square. I crossed the finish line with a time of 4:17:XX. I was not happy with the record but I was joyful because at least I made it safe and sound (minus the aching legs of course). So I went around and asked if I can get at least a finisher's medal to commemorate my achievement.

I was passed around the booths and I understand that I didn't have any proof that I finished the race from your system. They required the stub from the bib that I lost. I was so disappointed that I want to scream in front of the lady but no, that was not the proper way to do it. I just held back and do this letter to make it more formal and adequate to the situation.

Sir/Mam, I know you were runners too. You know how much we paid for our 42K race kit and you know it was quite expensive. But being told that you can't get at least the medal really crushed my morale. I worked hard for this race and even risked my life to finish it because I was really hoping to receive that award in the end. You know how difficult it is to accept that you've lost something already and it resulted to you not getting what you paid for.

I just want to express the feeling of being helpless yesterday and better customer support. Bottomline, I paid for the event (check my name: RONNEL GO registered last December 16, 2011) and I didn't get what my money's worth. I will bet my life if someone questioned if I finished the race yesterday as I claimed (this is also my preparation for BDM 102 this January).

I only want the finisher medal. I don't care for the loot bag nor the sponsor's freebies. I run for the glory of running and I would really love to get at least a remembrance which I paid with my hard-earned money.

I kindly ask for your consideration and help for this :(

Thanks,

Ronnel Go