By Michael Angelo S. Murillo
Senior Reporter
SEEING sports as a good platform to communicate what it is all about as a company, Allianz Philippines continues to dabble in it and affirms its commitment to such a thrust.
For the second straight year, the insurance firm is holding an obstacle course racing event, dubbed “Allianz OCR Sunday,” on March 31 at Filinvest, Alabang.
The day-long event includes two prestigious obstacle course races, namely the Conquer Challenge and Ninja OCR.
The Conquer Challenge, organizers said, is an entry-level obstacle course race which will have a five-kilometer race of 20 obstacles and a 1.5-km race with eight obstacles.
The Ninja OCR, meanwhile, involves a series of short distance and no running obstacle course races. It will have different categories, namely, individual (male and female), team, kids, and dogs with distance, difficulty, and type of obstacles varying for each category.
“As a company that uses sports to connect with communities and people, Allianz Philippines has chosen to be associated with OCR. We saw how the spirit of the sport is strongly aligned and consistent with our brand belief,”, said Gae Martinez, chief marketing officer, Allianz PNB Life, at the media launch of the event on March 20 at Pretty Huge Obstacles at the Bonifacio Global City in Taguig, of their involvement in the steadily growing sport of OCR.
Adding, “As in OCR and in life, there are obstacles that you need to overcome before you reach your destination. Both follow a journey of trials, failures, and successes. Many are holding back to make a big step to achieve their dreams or afraid to take the risk. That’s why Allianz is here to give people the courage to move forward and triumph over these obstacles.”
It is an effort that is being received by the local OCR community wholeheartedly, seeing the involvement of companies like Allianz in OCR as going a long way in the growth and promotion of the sport.
“It’s a big help for OCR in the country to have companies like Allianz on board. We, at Conquer Challenge, and Allianz have something in common in being inclusive and giving opportunities to people. And I encourage other groups as well to look at OCR and pick it up,” said James Bungubung of Conquer Challenge in an interview with BusinessWorld.
HIGHER STAKE
Spiking things up at the Allianz OCR Sunday are the national team pool slots for the Southeast Asian Games later this year that will be up for grabs in the elite division.
The top five male and female in the five-kilometer elite division will have a chance to be invited in the national team pool that will prepare for the SEA Games 2019 here in the Philippines where OCR is set to make its debut.
Expected to vie for a spot are five Aeta athletes who took part in the Allianz Conquer Challenge event last year.
They are Jacob King, 22, Miracle Lansang, 21, Danilo Yugyug, 20, Gelyann Soria, 17, and Ivy Pelayo, 16, who are from Villa Maria, an adopted community of Allianz based in Porac, Pampanga.

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