First of its kind in the Philippines

By Jesus A. Garcia Jr.

YEAR 1955 was the year when cycling was officially born in the Philippines. The following year a multi-stage professional race group called the Tour of Luzon Association (TLA) was formed under the leadership of the late Atty. Geruncio Lacuesta.

The first Tour of Luzon was held summer of 1956 and won by gritty rider Antonio Arzala from Sta. Rosa, Laguna. Pangasinan’s best cyclist then, Rufino Gabot from Manaog, finished a close second. The following year Gabot wrested the crown and the rest is history in professional cycling.

After the 1956 Tour of Luzon, an amateur group was formed, called the Philippine Amateur Cycling Association (PACA), and Atty. Lacuesta was elected as its president. PACA was the official national governing body that sent our nationals to international competitions, including the Olympic Games and the annual World Championships. PACA existed from the 1950s to the 1990s and it is now called PhilCycling.

Year 1996 was when professional cyclists were accepted in world competitions, including the prestigious Olympic Games and the World Championships. Except in track (velodrome) racing, the professional road players dominated the events. Since Philippines did not pass the qualifying tests, no cyclist was sent to the Beijing Olympics this year.

But cycling rules now says a country or even a provincial or city cycling group can send a delegation in a less-prestigious international tiff if the group, particularly the cyclists, is duly licensed by the national cycling body and officially invited by the organizing host.

This was first done by PAGCOR in the late 1990s up to 2004 by sending its team to several international tilts like the Tour de Langkawi, Tour of South China Sea, and Tour of Taiwan, to name a few. That PAGCOR team was composed of strong ex-nationals selected from different provinces. (But it should be pointed out that the PAGCOR team was not our national team. The composition of the RP squad that officially represents our country in Southeast Asian Games and Asian Games is not the same).

The 12- man Pitaki Boyz (under the sponsorship of my son’s Jazy Sportswear / Beacon) was assembled in July 2004. It’s a composed of our local amateur and professional cyclists led by 2003 Tour Pilipinas king Arnel Quirimit from Pozorrubio. (If you are an avid follower of national cycling activities, you would know who they are because the Pitaki riders are dominating Philippine road cycling).

Because of their strong performances recently, (see related story on this page 1), five of the Pitaki cyclists — Quirimit, Ramos, Valenzuela, Sherwin Carrera and Ericson Obosa — are off to Indonesia on November 21 to participate in the annual 12-day Tour de Indonesia to again try their mettles against the best in Asia, Europe and Australia as they had done last April in Tour de East Java where they finished fifth in team overall standing out of 22 squads.

And by the time you read this article, the November 23-December 5 race is already in progress. I will keep you posted on the results. (I was invited to join the group but I declined because of a prior commitment that also pertains to cycling in the province).

We should pray for their victory. They are our countrymates, and from our province. They are racing without any assistance from our government.

As far as I know, it is the first provincial team in the country, since the birth of cycling, to participate in international competitions. If you know of others, please let me know.

(Readers may reach columnist at biking.jess@yahoo.com. For past columns, click http://sundaypunch.prepys.com/archives/category/opinion/sports-eye/
For reactions to this column, click “Send MESSAGES, OPINIONS, COMMENTS” on default page.)

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