SM City Lanang and the Fifth Marathon Majors Leg
The race starts and finishes at SM City Lanang (SM Lanang Premier) on J.P. Laurel Avenue in Agdao, Davao City -- the fifth leg of the Singlife Philippine Marathon Majors series, jointly run by RunRio, Singlife, Kinetix Sports and SM Supermalls. [1] A mall-anchored venue means parking, shelter and post-race food are already built in, which matters for a debut event still finding its operational footing.
Timed for Kadayawan: Race Weekend Into Festival
Race day falls the day before Kadayawan Festival opens -- Davao's biggest annual cultural celebration, with street parades, floral floats and indigenous tribal showcases. [1] Finishing a marathon and walking straight into festival weekend is a genuine scheduling win, not an afterthought; it's the kind of detail that turns a race trip into a proper visit.
Distances and the Debut Field
Four distances are on offer -- 42.195K, 21.1K, 10K and 5K -- with organisers targeting 4,000 to 6,000 local and international participants for this first Davao edition. [1] Roughly ₱1.2 million in cash prizes is on the table, plus a BYD Seagull raffle vehicle, a sizeable incentive package for a race with no prior edition to point to.
Getting to Davao City
Davao City is Mindanao's largest city and a major southern Philippine air hub, with direct domestic flights and international connections routed mainly through Manila. [2] That connectivity makes the trip straightforward for runners based elsewhere in the country, even for a first-year, unproven event.
What We Don't Know Yet
As a brand-new event, there's no first-hand participant feedback on course conditions, water stations, or how race-day organisation actually holds up -- everything on file so far is pre-race promotional material. [1] Ahotu's event listing for the race explicitly notes "no reviews yet," which is simply the honest state of a debut leg.
Should You Run It?
If you trust RunRio's production track record from its other Marathon Majors legs and want a race weekend that rolls straight into Kadayawan Festival, the Singlife Davao Marathon is a reasonable bet for 15 August 2026. If you'd rather wait for a first-edition report before committing travel and entry fees, this is one to watch rather than book immediately.