Run Saipan conducts first ever group run

Participants of Run Saipan’s first ever group run pose for a photo before their 3-mile jaunt in Marpi last Saturday.(CONTRIBUTED PHOTO)

Run Saipan did its first ever group run last Saturday when 10 of its members took part in a 3-mile jaunt in Marpi.

“Today we took the next step as a run club. When Run Saipan first started we made it our mission to run monthly races for our runners in Saipan. After successfully hosting more than 21 races and collaboration with government and private entities since its inception we are moving on to our next phase which are social runs,” said the non-profit group’s president Edward Dela Cruz Jr.

He added that the group run was non-competitive and was just for fun.

“We will increase it to weekly group runs after the high-volume schedule of the Mini Games concludes this summer. As a running club we are moving on to our next phase which is do what actually running clubs do. Besides holding 5K races for Saipan we are starting to do group runs. These runs are non-competitive as we get a lot more people joining us per month it will start to be catered per runner. Our group runs are for runners for all levels as well as to have fun and socialize on weekends. Social runs are so much different from race settings.”

For future group runs, Dela Cruz promised to have more members participate as he hopes to entice more members to take part in the group activity.

“There would’ve been definitely more but the timing was just too late in the morning for most. I had to schedule it close to our cleanup to kill two birds with one stone.”

Simon Necessito said he enjoyed taking part in Run Saipan’s first ever group run.

“I have to say, I’m really glad to be a part of this run. What’s good about events like these is that it is non-competitive. These are the moments where we don’t worry about time and we focus on building camaraderie through matching our fellow runner’s pace. I do look forward to participating in more group runs in the near future!”

Evelyn Pangelinan echoed what Necessito said and added that she also enjoyed the cleanup they did immediately after the group run.

“It was a great opportunity for us to run as a group and do something for and as a community. After the run, we did the cleanup. Representatives from the Marianas Visitors Authority and Micronesia Islands Nature Alliance were present and we were given refreshments. Also present in the area was a Japanese association.”

Pangelinan said she doesn’t mind doing another group run and cleanup next time.

“So we were able to have fun with the run, get to know members of Run Saipan and other organizations at the same time, and help clean and manicure these sites that attract our tourists. We hope to have an even bigger turnout at the next group run and cleanup.”