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The UP Mountaineers and the 48-Hour Run
by DLS Pineda
The UP Mountaineers (UPM) recently turned forty-eight and as tradition would have it, we ran laps around the Academic Oval for 48 hours straight. That’s from 5:00 p.m. of April 23, Wednesday, to 5:00 p.m. of April 25, Friday. The number of years UPM remains standing, the number of hours we run.
Not too many members could recall the exact year when the tradition started but in the org’s archives, it states that the tradition was initiated in 1989. For most of us, running and carrying the UPM flag around the Acad Oval, making sure that it is never set down for too long while fellow members sat around, nibbled on food, and shared stories at the designated tent tambayan—essentially camping on campus—simply made so much sense to be considered a tradition that has been around for as long as the org existed. In any case, it’s a tradition that we all hope continues. Imagine: On our one hundredth year, a hundred hours of running, eating, sitting around on campus, and sharing stories.
UPM remains young despite its current composition now where alumni, or college graduates, greatly outnumber the active members who are still in undergrad. This extended youth comes unsurprisingly from how the org’s thrusts and reasons for being just lend themselves so well to people from all walks of life who still live for adventure. Perhaps, it’s thanks to the mountains that have been there way before us, the mountains that will remain long after we’re gone. Adventure, naturally, would always beckon.
MC Monsanto ran/walked the most number of laps around the Acad Oval in the men’s category, a total of 30 laps (66 kilometers) carrying the UPM flag, while Fechi Fajardo topped in the women’s category, running/walking a total of 24 (52.8 kilometers). Afterwards, the UPM Executive Board had food and drinks served at the UP Hotel where the mountaineers sat in their groups, sketched plans to climb another mountain, regrouped on the on-going creation of a network of trails in Sierra Madre, and volleyed ideas for the org’s upcoming 50th anniversary. Of course, after this mess and tired from 48 hours of running, we had to transfer to our old watering hole in Krus na Ligas, outside campus, when UP Hotel called it a night.
