Hoka GTX culminates a trilogy of events under PT Events and Hoka One One with each having a unique feature and challenges that’s bound to create a lot of memories on the trail.
Speedgoat Challenger
Speedgoat Challenger was the birth of the partnership between PT Events and Hoka One One. Previously, Hoka was the main sponsor of the previous flagship Pinoy Trail event, STAR Trail Challenge. It had a fast and furious dry trail feel that highlighted the trails of Timberland and San Mateo relying on a faster and flatter route. We had several growing up pains and a few hiccups but at the end of the day, everybody had a lot of sense of fulfillment and a lot of new converts to trail running. It was the biggest event of the trailogy with a lot of athletes from different sports and discipline, trying out trail running.
Mafate Mudfest
We wanted a rainy day trail feel so from the fast dry trails, we had to search for a slip and slide route to usher in a wet and wild adventure on race day. It was probably the weakest of the 3 events with not so much participants. It was an exhausting journey to race day with some naysayers adding to burden of the race. We’re glad we didn’t give up on the idea as when race day, happened it was one hell of an experience. It was a character building race definitely for the participants. Looking back, it’s my favorite race in the trailogy. At the end of the event, everybody was asking on when is the next Mafate race. If that doesn’t tell you that you’ve done a good job staying true to your brand then I don’t know what will.
Hoka GTX
Hoka GTX was a fitting culmination, inheriting the mantle of our previous flagship event, STAR Trail Challenge. It was a year-ender and is a feel-good course with shorter distances and a tamer elevation gain. We’re happy to end on a successful note. It was definitely a Grand Timberland Xperience as we’ve focused the routes inside Timberland Heights making use of both their road and trails and featuring both Panoramic Table Top and Pondopo Hill along adventure farm. The Table Top brings in the mountainside view while Pondopo Hill gives you a cityscape view from a higher vantage point.
Hoka GTX is brought to you by Hoka One One and PT Events with Timberland Heights as Venue Partner. Pinoy Trails is the Media and Marketing Partner. The race coverage is handled by Spektra Productions, A&J Visuals, Active Pinas, CN Creatives and Cignal TV. Hoka GTX is supported by Amihan Sports Gear, Runnr, Garmin, My Runtime and Ziv Eyewear. Pies Energy Bar, Vitargo, Lightwater, Vitamin Boost and Emco Musli is the Hydration and Nutrition Partner.
The Trailogy
It was really nice to find creative ways to create new routes in Timberland Heights. We wanted each experience to be different and that’s just the beauty of trail running, no two trails runs are the same as there are a lot of elements involved. Timberland Heights is such a flexible playground, you can create an easy, moderate or even hardcore route and believe me, there are still untapped trails in the area. We are really thankful to Timberland Heights and Filinvest Land Inc for allowing us to explore their trails.
It was not an easy journey as each leg, we’d encounter roadblocks and it was physically and emotionally exhausting mounting each one. Honestly, I need to take some time to recover. When it comes to events, there’s no low gear for us, it’s all-out effort from me and my team. It’s not just our time and effort that’s invested in our events but our heart and soul as well. It’s never gonna be routine for me and the team but the good part with time and experience, we just get better.
Hello to premium races. From the start, we’d wanted to create a premium racing environment and it didn’t come cheap creating a race like the trailogy. It’s not for everybody but the goal is to make each race experience worth it by leveling up on the inclusions and make sure to having the right facilities and support on race day.
We also intensified sponsor support to races taking the race as a branding opportunity. It was fun to work hand in hand with brands and drain our creative juices to make their sponsorship worth it. We were able to create a trail expo for their products. Hoka was also able to have instant ambassadors to promote the brand with the Hoka-inspired inclusions. We’d also ensure that every sponsor gets their time of day to be promoted during the duration of the trilogy.
While the kids race is a side event of the main distances, we’re happy to see kids as young as 2 years old join the race. Even if the allowed age is up to 10 years old, you’ll see that a bulk of the runners are the younger ones, the ones you had to carry to reach the podium. The kids race also creates a family friendly bonding experience as we’d encourage the parents to join their kids on the short run. We hope that the kids race grows even bigger. After all, our advocacy is to have people try the trails and the young ones are always welcome.
In the end, we just want to promote the trails, the outdoors and a lifestyle of fitness. We are grateful for everybody who joined our races from the runners, our race team and volunteers, Timberland Heights and our race sponsors. We’ll this is just the beginning for all of us and we hope that we get to see you in the trails moving forward.