Promoting the country through sports tourism is the main objective of the forthcoming Samsung Galaxy Watch Manila Marathon and Cebu Half-Marathon.

Rio dela Cruz of RunRio, the event’s main organizer, told the Philippine Sportswriters Association Forum at the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex that the two events should benefit tourism and at the same time serve as the country’s flagship running event.

“It has an impact on tourism,” said Dela Cruz, a member of the University of the Philippines track and field team before becoming race organizer.

“When you look at other countries they have the Bangkok Marathon then they have one in Ho Chi Minh, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore. We hope to make this the flagship marathon in the Philippines.”

The Manila Marathon takes place on 6 October and, according to plans, will cover the cities of Pasay, Parañaque, Manila, Makati and, if needed, Taguig. The races in 5K, 10K, 21K and 42K will start and end at the Mall of Asia grounds.

“We want these races to be as big as they can,” Dela Cruz added.

The Cebu Half-Marathon is set on 24 November and should be followed by stops in Baguio, Clark, Bataan, Manila, Legazpi, Cebu, Iloilo, Davao, Cagayan de Oro and Dapitan.

Medals will be at stake for each leg, and runners who will compete in all legs will receive medals with all the legs crafted in them.

Dela Cruz said they have coordinated with the Department of Tourism and are hoping for stronger ties with the different local government units and eventually the Philippine Sports Commission.

“I hope they become part of our program. Once these two events are already okay, it’s going to be easy to promote it to partners,” Dela Cruz said, adding that so far, 4,000 runners have registered for the Manila Marathon.

“We are here to promote the Philippines. We are on target.”