SIGNATURE EVENT: KO’KO’ ROAD RACE WEEKEND RETURNS

By Carmen Gogue

The Guam Visitors Bureau’s signature running event – the Guam Ko’ko Road Race is set for this weekend – April 13 and 14 at the Govenor Joseph Flores Memorial Park in Tumon.

GVB Vice President Gerry Perez said during Wednesday’s press conference held at Three Squares Restaurant that “We’re very excited about this year’s event and would also like to thank all of our Government of Guam agencies who partnered with us to make this an island wide project and hopefully an island wide success”.

Ko’ko’ Weekend will kick off on Saturday with the 15th Annual Guam Ko’ko’ Kids Fun Run that starts and ends within the Ypao Beach Park and takes the kids along the beach itself. Three divisions are set with a showtime of 6:30 am.

The half marathon and 10k races are scheduled for Sunday morning with a showtime of 4:00 am. The half marathon will start at 5:00 am and the 10k at 5:30 am. The routes will go up toward the old GMH circle and head straight down to Marine Corps. Drive, south with the 10k turn around point just after the Alupang Beach Tower and the half marathon turn around across the Veteran Affairs office in Asan.

According to race coordinator Manny Hechanova from the Guam Running Club, over 800 runners combined have already signed up with anticipation of that number increasing immensely come race days. Hechanova also notes chip timing is back to Guam for all runners on this year’s bibs with bag tags for drop of bags at a designated tent for the duration of the race.

Ko’Ko’ Bird

Suete’ the live Ko’ko bird made his famous appearance at the press conference again, courtesy of the Department of Agriculture. Yolanda Topasna from DoAg said that Suete’ “is a top earning professional at the DoAg and he is federally and locally protected always”.

Also present at the press conference were GVB’s ever-loving mascots: Kiko and Kika the Ko’ko’ Birds.

Ko’Ko’ and Chill “After Party”

Following the races on Sunday, there will be an after party from 12:00 pm to 6:00 pm that is open to the public featuring food trucks, live entertainment, and free kids’ activities.

GVB Public Information Officer Lisa Bordallo advised that the John F. Kennedy high school parking lot has been secured for parking and there will be free shuttle service down to Ypao all Sunday afternoon.