By Mark Cabrera
Last October 20, 320 Boracay residents woke up very early in the morning.
They braved a brief rain shower to get their sleepy asses to Bom Bom Bar. This they painstakingly did for what? To pick up trash lying around on Boracay Island’s White Beach. Furthermore, they did this while jogging… Yup! You read right… while jogging. Strange right?
Apparently, this new sporting craze is called “Plogging.”
Plogging originated in the eco-friendly country of Sweden. It is a combination of “Plocka Upp” (a Swedish term for “to pick up”) and “Jogging.” Plogging entails jogging and quickly stopping to pick up trash along the way. Filipinos adopted this practice and the nationwide environmental sporting event entitled “Basura Run” is born.
The first Basura Run on Boracay took place on December 2, 2017 at exactly 6 o’clock in the morning. Boracay took part in a nationwide event wherein 54 communities from around the Philippines held the Basura Run simultaneously.
The event served as an opportunity for environment-conscious participants from Cebu, Tuguegarao, Davao, General Santos, Tacloban, Naga, Coron, Sta. Rosa, Dumaguete, Ormoc, and Butuan, and other parts of the country to express their concern about the improper disposal of trash and its effect on our children.
The goal is to prompt awareness that we need to be responsible for the trash that we generate daily, and that we need to look after the future of our children and our children’s children. Since then, the “Basura Run” has been adopted by the Boracay Multisports Club and has been a part of its annual calendar of events.
The recent “Basura Run 2019” was the third leg of the Boracay Mutisports Club that organized the “Boracay Beachathon Series 2019”. The first leg, the “Boracay Obstacle Run 2019” was held last April 21. This event saw participants running and tackling different obstacle courses along the way. The second leg of the Boracay Beachathon Series, the “Boracay Color Run 2019” was held last July 21. A colorful version of the fun-run, this version had participants running while environment-friendly colored dyes were sprayed on their shirts at different turning points. The “Basura Run” was third and final leg of the series.
Unlike the previous fun-runs in the Boracay Beachathon Series, “Basura Run” has a meaningful impact on the community. The Boracay Basura Run 2019 retained the goal of the original Basura Run, which is to promote awareness of the proper disposal of our daily garbage and to look out for the future.
Personally, I think this movement is working. I saw that the whole community participated in the Basura Run. The PNP, various government representatives, business entities and families were seen Plogging together that morning.
As the pioneers of the first Basura Run mentioned, “Litter is Pollution, You’re the Solution.” For me, this community activity is a Win. Cheers Everyone!