Sarbay 2013 looks greater than ever

GUMASA, Sarangani -- Thousands of tourists from all over Mindanao and around the world flocked at the white-sand beaches here to join in the celebration of Sarangani Bay Festival 2013.

This year’s staging of the festival is touted as the “biggest so far” with at least 80,000 visitors in attendance.

Award-winning photographer Cocoy Sexcion gauged SarBay this time as “(I think) this is the biggest and wildest beach party ever” as he compared the tourist count crowding the venue and nearby resorts as quite noticeable even in the first day where for the last seven years the crowd usually arrived at the culmination part.

“Even when it heavily rained early afternoon the first day, it never ceased the crowd from partying,” he said.

Several foreigners were seen around mingling with the locals.

SarBay kicked-off with the historic 15-kilometer swim-across-the-bay relay competition on Friday.

Simultaneous with the swim relay was the fun run for the environment of Smart Communications.

Event organizer Eliodoro Alcaya reported around 500 runners finished the 8-km and 5-km races thru off-road and sloping trail that ended both with a 2-km beach run along the white, fine shores of Gumasa Cove.

A swim contest in Gumasa also drew a huge crowd. It was held in 500-, 300- and 150-meter races along the beachfront.

Organizer Ian Rodriguez said the race was conceptualized after the swim-across–the-bay which provided other swimmers another venue to compete.

Among the beach sports were volleyball, football, skim boarding clinic, jetski invitational challenge, and the sand sculpture which showcased the participants’ visual perception of the rich marine life of the bay.

Pinta sa Baybayon, on the other hand, was a bodypainting competition that portrayed the artists’ combined skills and imagination to present in an artistic way the affluence of marine resources inhabiting the bay.

Also among the newest event of SarBay this time was the 30-km mountain bike ultra 3-men challenge where 30 bikers tracked rough terrains around Glan.

People thronged to the party zone Friday night particularly for the Smart and Talk & Text foam party and the beach party allnight long.

COCOY SEXCION/SIO BIGGEST SARBAY. Low tide and moonshine bring Sarangani Bay Festival to a climactic night at midnight Saturday as tens of thousands of revelers in Gumasa Cove make it the biggest beach party in the Philippines.