Historic dawn as Laser Run enjoys exposure in Cali (COL)

The Modern Pentathlon was born during the 1912 Olympic Games in Stockholm and still today, 106 years later, the sport is enjoying its first exposure in some countries.

Colombia is one such country. In the city of Cali, on July 15, Laser Run was presented for the first time, giving communities an introduction to the UIPM Sports movement and – potentially – an entry point to the Olympic sport of Modern Pentathlon.

The UIPM Global Laser Run City Tour has led to many similar historic dawns taking place across the world, with hundreds of thousands of people combining their passion for running with the fun of shooting a laser pistol in an urban race environment.

Major Santiago Cortes Fernandez, a physical education teacher, was the instigator of the Laser Run event in Cali, where the sport was promoted in universities, in a local athletics stadium and among deprived communities in the Siloe ghetto.

Major Fernandez said: “In Siloe we were able to interact with groups of practitioners from sports training schools that seek to keep young people away from vices and violence that take away their illusions and their future. We had 118 participants taking place in those activities.”

The Laser Run event in Cali coincided with the Modern Pentathlon event that took place in Barranquilla as part of the 2018 Central American and Caribbean Games – the first pentathlon competition ever organised in Colombia.

The UIPM Global Laser-Run City Tour was created in 2017 to deliver an exciting, dynamic and fun competition to participants of all ages and offer them an entry point to UIPM Sports.

The Global LRCT took place in parks, stadiums and iconic urban venues in 60 cities around the world in 2017, with more than 15,000 participants. There are about 100 events scheduled in 2018.

Laser-Run is a development sport of UIPM but aspiring athletes of all ages also have the chance to compete for global titles at the UIPM Laser-Run World Championships, which are taking place in Dublin (IRL) on September 28-30, 2018. You can register for the open division here and view the invitation to National Federations here.

Have you liked the UIPM Laser-Run Facebook page yet?