Sports Eye
Adios amigo Romeo
By Jesus A. Garcia Jr.
BEFORE lunch on January 11, I was stunned and shocked after receiving a text message and a call from media colleague Freddie Fajardo of Aksyon Radio Pangasinan. He informed me that my friend and co-cyclist Romeo Bonzo, while riding his motorcycle, met a freak accident in his hometown Sual and eventually succumbed to death due to brain injuries and severe fractures in his body.
According to Freddie, based on the Sual police blotter, the back of his motorbike was strongly hit by a speeding van, throwing him away and severely wrecking his motorbike. The culprit, a certain Moises Moyano, 27, surrendered to the police immediately after the incident.
That very bad news shook my body, made my hands tremble, vexed and perplexed me and prompted me to drink one full glass of water to tranquilize my mirthless emotion.
It was really astonishing and unbelievable. Unbelievable because four days before this unfortunate day, he was with us during the Domalandan bikefest escorting the entourage as the lead marshal of the race. And he was also supposed to do the same job last Sunday during the Villasis Open Cycling Classic, but he unfortunately met his untimely death four days before that event.
Cycling aficionados knew who Romeo Bonzo was. He was the younger of two Bonzo brothers to win the annual and most prestigious multi-stage bicycle race in the country. His brother, Modesto, captured the 1976 diadem, originally known as the Tour of Luzon. And they were the only siblings in the entire archipelago to achieve the feat.
Of all his cycling credentials starting from his amateur era up to his professional status, Romeo was popularly known as the 1983 Marlboro Tour champion. Out of 19 national Tour champions that this province produced, he was the only Pangasinense to bag the “Rookie of the Year” plum when he captured the 1983 tiara.
The best I could recall of the monumental amateur heydays of Romeo was when he was part of the gold medal victory in the 100-km. team-time-trial during the 1978 National Cycling Championship held in Lingayen. That supremacy plus others the following year propelled him and his career as he became a member of the Philippine national squad that competed in European races like the world championship in Czechoslovakia and the 1982 Asian Games in India.
After his short amateur stint, he turned pro the following year and won the Tour at the age of 24. He was one of the youngest to do that remarkable act.
Romeo was one of eight children of the late fisherman Casimiro Bonzo and the former Genoveva Ferrer. He just turned 48 years old last January 6 and left a wife and six children, five girls and a son named Mark Julius.
Mark Julius, 17, wants to follow the cycling footsteps of his father. He is a member of the Philippine national youth team that competed in Thailand and Malaysia and also been to Australia for a cycling seminar and workshop. His ambition is also to win the annual Tour.
To Romeo, adios amigo, my colleague in cycling. God bless your soul and may you rest in peace.
And to his family, in behalf of our cyclists and fans, our deepest sympathy and condolences. We know how deeply sad it is to lose the head of the family.
(For past columns, click http://sundaypunch.prepys.com/archives/category/opinion/sports-eye/)
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