Over 16,000 eco warriors laced up their shoes, pulled on their athletic wear, filled up their water bottles, and made it out to the National Geographic Earth Day Run 2018 at SM Mall of Asia this past Sunday, April 22. The annual run, in its 9th year, fell on this year’s International Earth Day celebration with a continued pledge to preserving the planet. The event saw committed runners bursting with energy from the 2AM assembly through to the conclusion of the run at 9AM.
Hoping to reach a bigger audience across a wider demographic, this year, the Nat Geo Run re- opened the 3K Fun Run category alongside the 5K, 10K, and 21K distances. Each distance group saw healthy participation, proving that there are a large and diverse group of people willing to run for a cause.
The Earth Day Run encouraged all of its participants to become advocates for the most pressing issues threatening our planet. This year, Nat Geo partnered again with the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Philippines and their #NotPlastic campaign to tackle plastic use and how something so deep-seated in our day-to-day lives is impacting the earth. The 8 million tons of plastic flowing into the oceans is steadily destroying the marine ecosystem, killing our wildlife in the process. “[Using plastic] is something that people do every day without realizing or thinking twice about it. We hope to educate people on the very real impact of plastic use and highlight what they can do to help fight this issue.” said – Charo Espedido, FOX Networks Group Head of Marketing.
National Geographic showed its commitment by making this year’s Earth Day Run a plastic-less event. Each runner was provided with their own re-usable water bottle, incuded in their race kit, which they could refill at various hydration stops throughout the course of the run. Participants were informed in advance that there would not be disposable plastic or paper cups at the race village or along the route. “It was encouraging to see so many people support Earth Day Run’s efforts in reducing plastic use. Hopefully these sentiments are things that all the runners will take away and share with others” said – Jude Turcuato FOX Networks Group GM and SVP.
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