Sports Eye
The annals of Mangaldan bikefest
By Jesus A. Garcia Jr.
MARCH 14, 1974 was the day when the first Mangaldan town fiesta bikefest was held.
It was a project of the late Mangaldan hizzoner sports fanatic Atty. Macario G. Ydia, exclusively participated in by Pangasinan cyclists and dubbed as the “First Mangaldan Cycling Grand Prix.”
That memorable event was won by my former teammate Winselmo Baguio from Urdaneta. Yours truly placed second.
At the peak of my cycling career during the 70’s, I dominated the annual event in the next three years, especially the 1975 edition when four Mangaldanons-including this columnist- orchestrated a 1-2-3-4 finish despite the presence of the illustrious three-time Tour champion Manuel Reynante and others. This shocked the cycling aficionados but of course delighted my town mates. Romeo Perez came in close second, Eduardo Parino finished third and 1975 Tour of PICCA (Philippine Industrial Commercial Cycling Association) champion Samson Carino landed fourth.
According to the connoisseurs and pundits of sports, it was the first time in the history of national cycling races that four riders coming from the same town came in first, second, third and fourth, respectively. “One for the books,” ‘ika nga.
Year 1978 when I migrated to Uncle Sam’s land and it was my former teammate Samson Carino who took the cudgel under the sponsorship of Jets Enterprise.
The annual road battle continued until I came back in 1987 and took the baton temporarily from Carino to direct the race again which was won by RP national team standout Esteban Dacayo from San Fabian town. Our town’s chief executive then was Dr. Conching Golea.
After fifteen years at the place they call the “land of opportunities,” I came back to my town for good in 1993 and got back the shillelagh, this time under the leadership of the late Mayor Benigno Gubatan. According to my source, the race was funded from the bulk they call “livelihood.”
It was also on this year when the title of the race was changed to “Werweran,” a Pangasinan word for ‘spinning’ with then Mangaldan SK Federation President Adjie Cabrera, Johnny Valencia and Dr. Butch Ydia at the helm.
From then until now, the yearly race has come to be popularly called “Werweran.”
It was temporarily stopped in 2002 during Mayor Tito Sarzaba’s regime due to financial constraints, according to the ex-mayor.
This year’s race will unfold on February 25 with former Tour champions like Arnel Quirimit, Warren Davadilla, Victor Espritu and last year titlist Santi Barnachea. Other national luminaries like Enrique Domingo, Ericson Obosa, Reynaldo Navarro, Lucien Llyod Reynante, Elmo Ramos, Jr. and defending champion Sherwin Carrera have already registered.
It will be the 33rd edition since its birth and the fourteenth as Werweran. This will be another blockbuster event, ika nga, and more than P70,000 pesos plus trophies are at stake.
As usual, like in the past years, the management is facing financial woes, but I’m confident these will be overcome in due time.
And I believe that the altruistic friends of Mayor Hermie Romero, Johnny Valencia, Dr. Butch Ydia, Commander Pete de Vera, my friends, and also Jazy’s friends like Blandino Caguioa, Rey Corpuz, Joey Se, Joey Coz, Mely Ylan will eventually assist us to make the star-studded affair very successful.
You can read the complete details of the project next week also in this paper, i.e., the route and the breakdown of prizes.
The road battle next Sunday will be my 135th directorial job starting in 1974 and could be my biggest (what with the array of superstar cyclists participating).
See you there in Mangaldan!
(For past columns, click http://sundaypunch.prepys.com/archives/category/opinion/sports-eye/)
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