The 2026 Cebu Marathon, held last Sunday, January 17, 2026, concluded not with a celebration of athletic triumph, but with widespread frustration and chaos at the finish line. Runners who completed the challenging 21K and 42K races across the scenic Cebu-Cordova Link Expressway were met with an unexpected hurdle: a complete lack of organization for distributing finisher's medals.
A Finish Line Without Reward
After crossing the finish line, jubilant runners quickly found their excitement turning to confusion and disappointment. There were no staff members present to hand out medals immediately. The assumption that medals might be distributed further away to avoid congestion proved false. The reality was far more disorganized.
Runners learned through word of mouth that medals would only be released at 7:00 AM. For those who finished their races much earlier, this meant waiting for over an hour, or in the case of the fastest 42K runners who started at midnight and finished between 3:00 AM and 5:00 AM, waiting for several hours. The system inadvertently punished the fastest athletes with the longest waits.
Logistical Breakdown and Mounting Frustration
The scale of the problem was significant. With approximately 3,000 runners in the 42K race and more than 5,000 in the 21K race, the prospect of distributing thousands of medals starting at a single, fixed time promised a lengthy queue. The presence of numerous police officers initially puzzled participants, who later understood they were there to manage the impending crowd control issue.
The medal distribution, when it finally began, was described as chaotic. There were no clear instructions, no organized queues marked with ropes, and a severe lack of communication from the organizers. One frustrated American runner, with 50 years of racing experience, called it "the worst race I've joined" and criticized the apparent absence of basic organizational sense.
Contrary to later claims from race officials posted on social media, the chaos was not due to a lack of discipline among runners. Participants reported no pushing or cutting in line. Instead, everyone was simply clueless about where to go, crammed together in a scene one runner likened to waiting for "ayuda" (assistance) after a typhoon.
Fallout for Cebu's Racing Reputation
The incident is a major black eye for an event that prides itself on international standards, having recently earned AIMS certification. The race attracted participants from 47 countries, many of whom had tight travel schedules. Asking these athletes to wait hours for a promised medal was seen as deeply unprofessional.
The race organizer, the Cebu Executive Runners Club (CERC), faced direct criticism. Local runners from Cebu found themselves apologizing to and calming visitors from other parts of the Philippines and the world, assuring them that such disorganization is not the norm for all Cebu races. The failure in basic logistics has raised serious questions about the planning and execution capabilities of the organizing body for this premier event.
