THE UST Mountaineering Club plucked another gem on its trail as it emerged second in the Beat-the-Terraces Banaue Orienteering Challenge (mixed category) at the Banaue Rice Terraces in Benguet last May 20-21.
Finishing the 15-point course of the rugged Banaue terrain in seven hours, the dynamic duo of Thomasians Libert Lomuntad and Elaine Lerio garnered runner-up honors against 11 teams of sesoned climbers. The University of the Philippines won the race in six hours, while the 420 Nomads Club, a group of professional mountaineers, finished third with eight hours.
In the competition, each team was given a map and a compass to unlock trail clues and locate their coordinates at every point, which took it an average of 15 to 30 minutes to climb per interval starting from the Banaue Hotel. Unfamiliarity with the terrain and minor slips caused by the rainy weather prolonged each team’s default times.
To clear the hurdles in Banaue decks’ steep elevation, Lomuntad and Lerio used their hiking and rope trekking skills while carefully treading their direction.
“The tracks were basically rough kaya sa gilid ng pilapil ka lang pwede dumaan,” Lerio, a Communication Arts alumnus, said.
Lomuntad, who earned his Chemical Engineering degree last year, agreed, saying that Banaue’s rough terrain bothered them throughout the race.
“We have to deal with the rolling hills aside from us being lost at some instances,” Lomuntad said.
The 20-year-old mountaineering club, which first ventured into adventure racing in 2002, also capped third place in the Seccon 24-hour Mountain Bike Endurance Challenge last April.
