Sports Eye

By April 5, 2009Opinion, Sports Eye

2 national tours on this year

jess-garcia-photo

By Jesus A. Garcia Jr.

It was in the years 1974, 1975 and 1976 when two national tours were conducted. These were the Tour of PICCA (Philippine Industrial Commercial Cycling Association) formed by the late Antonio Kairuz, a cycling magnate; and Tour of Luzon, the more popular and fabled race pioneered by the late Atty. Geruncio Lacuesta.

In1977, there were three. Tour ng Pilipinas with Atty. Mat Defensor (now a congressman of Metro Manila) at the helm was added. These were all participated in by big names in Philippine cycling and different cyclists emerged as champions, including this piece-maker, Manuel Reynante, Samson CariƱo and Domingo Quilban, to name some.

After 1977 up to 2007, there was only one tour per year with different titles. The most famous was the defunct Marlboro Tour that run for 20 consecutive years ending in 1998.

The big race was revived in 2002, and that time it was called the Tour of Calabarzon, then renamed Tour Pilipinas in 2003 and 2004, and again changed to Golden Tour, and is now called Padyak Pinoy.

The big race was suspended last year for unexplained reasons. But I surmised it could have been due to financial constraints.

Talks are rife these days about the two national tours that will be held this year. The Tour of Luzon will be revived on April 13-19 while the Padyak Pinoy is scheduled on May 8-15.

The company of my contemporary cyclist Paquito Rivas will handle the Tour of Luzon while I was asked to direct the Padyak Pinoy. In fact I’ll be having a meeting with the organizers of this big race on April 7 to iron out everything, chiefly the official route and the complete set of prizes for the participants.

Of course, like in the past, there will be a lap terminal here in Dagupan City and the riders will be coming either from Cabanatuan City or Olongapo City. Details will be confirmed on Tuesday and I will be updating you on that.

If these two tours push through, it means there will be two champions to emerge this year as in the past. Hopefully there will be only one winner for the two tours. If not, cycling enthusiasts will be puzzled as to who is really The One in Philippine professional cycling today.

* * *

My congratulations to the Alaminos City basketball team under the mentorship of Vice Mayor Teofilo Humilde Jr. for winning the goodwill match against the Mangaldan Selection, 97-94, held recently. A big crowd of Alaminos basketball enthusiasts watched it in conjunction with the celebration of their fiesta. I was there and brought my town cagers with the intent of duplicating our victory during our first meeting, defeating them, 64-56, in Mangaldan on March 6,

Unfortunately we were edged out this time due to the heroic effort at the end game of former PBA Shell standout Jun Marzan. It was a really a close tiff from the start to the end, ala Crispa-Toyota match. A third match has been scheduled in Mapandan on April 14.

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