MANILA, Philippines ? When it?s for a good cause, everyone participates.

Thousands of runners showed up for ?Run for Home: Globe-Ayala Land City Run for Habitat for Humanity.? It featured three-kilometer, five-kilometer, 10- kilometer and 21- kilometer events that kicked off at the Bonifacio High Street at The Fort, Taguig, Rizal. The first-ever running event sponsored by the telecom giant was attended by more than 6,400 runners.

Participants included Ayala Corp. president and COO Fernando Zobel de Ayala, who finished the 21- kilometer leg in 1:48, Ayala Land president Antonino Aquino, Senator Pia Cayetano, Habitat for Humanity chair Francisco del Rosario Jr., Christine Jacob, Anton Huang, Samboy Lim, Maricel Laxa, Anthony Pangilinan, Ditrie Villacorta, Paco Sandejas, Cristine Reyes, Karen Davila, Gilbert Remulla, Tricia Chiongbian, Leanna Ferrales and Boy Ramos.

?When people show up for a good cause it?s overwhelming enough. The fact that more than 6,000 registered is really overwhelming. When it?s a good cause everyone cooperates, including the weather,? said Alex Eduque, youth ambassador of Habitat for Humanity.

?Run for Home,? with the Habitat for Humanity Phils., will help raise funds for the Kapit Bisig Para sa Ilog Pasig Project (KBIP) whose key project is the 100-hectare resettlement houses construction in Barangay Dayap Calauan, Laguna called Bayanijuan sa Calauan. This will be the main resettlement area for families that live along the Pasig River.

?At Globe we feel a great sense of responsibility to the community we live in and we are glad to be given a chance to make a difference in people?s lives,? said Globe president and CEO Ernest Cu.

KBIP and Habitat for Humanity will repair 800 existing housing units and construct new units to accommodate the increasing demand.

?Bayanijuan will not only relocate residents in the Pasig River area but will also help clean up the river when full resettlement is accomplished. I?ve seen areas of hope. If people do the same all over the country we could all together do something for our country,? the young Eduque said.

Tracking technology

?Run for Home? also used state-of-the-art tracking technology. Disposable electronic timing chips tracked running time of participants, including results in age division and gender and overall ranking, number of runners each participant outran and the number that outran them and other fun info. Each disposable chip is tagged to a specific runner so tracking is smooth, unless it is improperly installed.

Participants were able to review their performance through the Globe website, where they were also able to access and download, free of charge, their photos during the run by simply logging in their bib number.

?Today we were able to bring together Globe?s technological experience and the Ayala Group?s collective dedication to community development to bring extraordinary experience to runners from all over. Best part is?It was all for a very worthy cause,? said Ferdz dela Cruz, Globe consumer sales and after sales head.

Winners received cash prize of up to P15,000. Visit www.globe.com.ph/runforhome to check out results and the technology behind the run.