Dear Runners,

On behalf of Runrio Team, I sincerely thank all of you for the overwhelming support that you have been giving to our organized races.

We started the year with our banner race, the first leg of Runrio Trilogy 2011—Unilab Run United 1—and again, your wonderful support helped us set a new registration record. In less than 3 weeks, slots were sold out with many more runners requesting for additional slots.

Unfortunately, we could not accommodate the requests because more than profits and setting records, security and safety concerns remain a top priority in all of my Runrio races.

The race last Sunday was not as perfect as we planned and worked it out to be. In our desire to provide you, our dear runners, with innovations and new race features, the reality is we cannot escape some birth pains. The race had some technical hitches and we got negative feedbacks from participants.

As I have always done in the past, I would like to address the concerns by explaining the things that happened. I’m not attempting to justify the mistakes or even pass the blame on anyone. This is simply to inform everyone of exactly what happened.

And before I begin, please know that we at Runrio take full responsibility for everything that happened, the mistakes in particular.

1. Lane congestion and absence of a waved start

During the race, there were feedbacks about crowded lanes in the first few kilometers.  There was also a perception that the possible implementation of a “Waved-Start” was not considered.

My team made a lot of studies on how best to manage the crowded lanes including, among other options, the feasibility of implementing starting times in waves. This option was deemed not viable due to the use of same area for Start and Finish Lines. Starting in waves, where there is a big number of participants who are also expected to end the race in the same area, presents a risk of having elite runners approaching the Finish Line while the last waves of runners are still in the Starting/Finish Lines.

The use of different Start/Finish Lines was another option, which we did not recommend as this would be successful only if the Finish Line is far enough from the Start area so as to prevent crisscrossing of runners along the route. Also, this strategy presents logistical problem for runners—how to go back to their vehicles parked near the Starting Line.

2.   Finish Line traffic and far location of post race/finishers’ items and hydrations

We stand firm on our belief that the Finish Line area should be kept clear. With this in mind, the finisher’s kits and hydration stations are best positioned at a reasonable distance from the Finish Line.

My team tried their best to keep the Finish Line area free from traffic-generating activities, but it is unfortunate that there were still uncooperative runners who caused the congestion. We understand that the Finish Line area is the favorite spot for picture-taking. Runners like to linger and savor their victory. Having said this, we enjoin everyone to please heed the requests of our race security and marshals to ensure that the Finish Line area remains clear.

Moving forward, we will implement measures geared towards runner-education, especially in this area.

3. Age category mix-up

The initial race results released for the 500-meter dash category had some errors and we sincerely apologize and accept full responsibility for it.

To make it up somehow to those who were not properly recognized, we will be announcing the real winner at the Runrio website and present the award to him/her at my own expense.

4. E-reg race results

There are a number of runners who reported errors such as names were not included in the race results list, double bib numbers were displayed, and wrong finish time was posted under their record.

We immediately met with our supplier right after the race and they have started working on the system to address the problems. In addition, the Runrio technical team is also working double time identifying the problems and correcting the results. To date, majority of the problems reported in the race results have already been addressed.

Still, I request for everyone’s patience and understanding as we continue to address the problems that are still being reported to us regarding the official race results.

5. Erroneous race photos

A number of runners reported that the pictures posted with their results are not theirs.

One of the innovations we were most excited about for this race is our supplier’s technology for live photography. Photos are immediately posted based on the actual time that the runner stepped on the timing mat. As you may have noticed, most of the photographers taking pictures were stationed near the timing mats. This was because the photos were taken in sync with the time the runner stepped on the mat.

So, if there were a number of runners who stepped on the mat at around the same time, there was that possibility that another runner’s photos will be reflected in a runner’s results page. We somehow anticipated this and we needed to manage your expectations, which is why we wrote a note at the individual race results page saying that the photos that may appear in your results page “may not be your photos.”

Please also take into consideration that the photos you are currently seeing are the output of a live photography. The rest of the other photos are yet to be made available to runners as these are currently still being uploaded.

If we used the manual-tagging process, where each photo will be tagged according to the race bib number of each and every runner, no race photos will be seen immediately after a runner has crossed the finish line. Please remember that in the past races, it would take days before a single photo is made available for viewing and downloading.

As we explore more advanced technology and try out some innovations, we hope you bear with us as we experience some unavoidable first-time mishaps. If we have not been bold enough to try out new race features, we would not have known and assessed the best features that we can offer to all of you to make your every running experience even more thrilling than your previous races.

Modesty aside, there were other Runrio innovations which debuted in Unilab Run United 1 that were not announced such as the option to see live race results in the activity area thru our iPad-equipped Runrio personnel, the immediate release of thumbnail pictures which were available in less than 24 hours, and the race updates through text and Facebook wall posts, which were offered to the runners. I only bring these up as proof of our sincere desire to make races much more fun and exciting.

Now having explained what happened, please allow me to reiterate that my Runrio team and I humbly apologize and assume full responsibility for all the problems and errors noted. As we regroup and learn from these miscues, we will continue to embrace change with the firm resolve to strive harder in providing our client-partners like UNILAB and ultimately, our runners the best possible service.

Thank you for your continued trust and confidence in Runrio.

Your running partner,

Rio S. Dela Cruz
President, Runrio, Inc