Zambales Sports Fest slated this March

The Provincial Government of Zambales is getting ready for the summer season with the first Zamba Multi-sports Festival on March 18-20, in the town of Candelaria, Zambales.

"We want the people to see how beautiful Zambales is," said Governor Hermogenes Ebdanue during a press conference at the Dawal Beach Resort in the same town. "We have powdery sands and azure waters and we have probably the cleanest shoreline today."

Zambales waters have powdery magnetite sand and very few rocks or sandy beaches.

The sports festival will include competitions in cycling, open water swim, ultimate frisbee, sprint duathlon, and triathlon. There will also be side events like a body tattoo competition, bikini open and beach party.

The events will kick off on March 18 with the Zamba Cycling Challenge, a 120-km road race from Iba Capitol to Sta. Cruz and back. Some 200 riders are expected to join the race, which has two divisions: Open and Executive. Asian Youth Cycling Championships bronze medalist Rustom Lim and national duathlon team mainstay John Chicano are expected to lead the pack.

The next day will include events like the 2-km Open Water Swim; the National Ultimate Black Sands Frisbee Elimination; Sprint Duathlon (5-km run, 30-km bike, 3 km run); and the body tattoo and bikini open events.

Philippine Ultimate Association representative Antonio Vasquez said the Black Sands Frisbee tourney will serve as a pre-qualifying to the Boracay Open, the most prestigious ultimate competition in the country.

The sports fest will culminate on the 20th with the Zamba Black Sand Triathlon at the Dawal Beach Resort. There will be two divisions: an open and age-group competitions that serves as part of the Triathlon Association of the Philippines’ (TRAP) grassroots programs, according to national coach Melvin Fausto. TRAP also hopes to discover talents they can invite to join major tourneys in the future.

You can read the full article on the Philstar website here. Credit goes to Olmin Leyba who wrote it.

I'm excited for this. I do hope that guests, participants and organizes will come to appreciate our little town as much as I do. Also, please don't forget to clean up as you go! :) Good luck to all the participants!