Tomorrow is the big day for the local community of Calatagan, Batangas, their fishermen and town folks will battle in paddle boat race for this year's Bangkathon Festival, organized by Conserve and Protect Oceans (CAP-Oceans) , an organization for the advocacy for the conservation and protection of the sea and its natural resources. They organize this kind of festival to communicate with the locals of Calatagan, Batangas for their awareness to help protecting their natural resources and source of living - the sea.
Rules are.. boatmen should use a one wooden paddle in their boat. Its up to them how big or small their boat. The one who reach the finish line at the end of the race will win the Bangkathon. I heard that there's this 5 time winner who will compete again this year. Good luck to you all! and let's pray for clear skies and good weather. Congratulations in advance to CAP-Oceans for organizing this festival.
The Bangkathon Festival will be on June 24, 2013 in Calatagan, Batangas, its their 10th year this 2013 and it is supported by the local government and the people of Calatagan. The race will start at Balumbato pier end in front of the Marine Protected Area or The Calatagan Artificial Reef Fish Sanctuary in Barangay Bagong Silang, Calatagan Batangas.
There will be 50-75 fishermen to be expected for tomorrow's race. Me and my travel blogger team will be there today and cover the mightiest boat paddlers of Calatagan.
Bangkathons are happening in some part of the islands, I heard that there's a boat race also in Mindoro and Davao, but here in Calatagan is the long running boat race. I hope they can create more festival and add dragon boat or kayak race in the future.
to know more about the Bangkathon festival, watch the video below
2008 feature in Lovely Day GMA
here's some info and history about Bangkathon
Conserve and Protect Oceans (CAP-Oceans) is a non-stock, non-profit organization established by Mr. Vicente “Bu” Madrigal Warns and a group of divers in 2003. It was founded with a primary objective of building a strong multi-sectoral advocacy for the conservation and protection of the sea and its rich natural resources. The foundation believes that negligence and abuse of our oceans is due to the lack of general public awareness on the different issues concerning the environment that can be addressed through a call for volunteerism as well as through education and information dissemination.if you want to support the CAP-Oceans organization , feel free to message their festival organizer - Mr. Jessie Delos Reyes in Facebook -http://www.facebook.com/jessiedr1
As part of its advocacy, CAP-Oceans started a simple boat race involving manual paddling for local fisherfolk back in 2003. The race was called “Bangkathon” (Karera ng mga bangkang di sagwan) and aimed to encourage the active participation of the local communities to manage the municipal waters. The event is now held every year on the 24th of June together with the Local Government of Calatagan. This year’s Bangkathon will be even more special as this will be our tenth year of running the foundation and holding the race.
This year’s Bangkathon race will start at Balumbato pier and will end in front of the Marine Protected Area or The Calatagan Artificial Reef Fish Sanctuary in Barangay Bagong Silang, Calatagan Batangas. This will cover at least 10 kilometers of manual paddling by the local fisherfolk participants. We are expecting around 50 to 75 contestants and around 1,000 spectators from within the area and nearby barangay coastal residents.
(photo above taken by Grace Laderas, published in GMA NEWS )
