Kudos to Fab Four in National Milo Open

By Al S. Mendoza

FROM HERE ON, remember them: Guv Spines, Mayor Al Fernandez, Raffy Baraan and Alvin Fernandez.

They are the new Fab Four of Pangasinan. Together, they gave us something not only to cheer about but also to think about long after the fact.

For being so calculating and precise despite limited time thrown at them to set up, host and stage a monumental event, I also call them the Quick Quartet.

I refer to the just-concluded National Milo Open Track & Field Championship at the Narciso Ramos Sports Complex in Lingayen.

Never before has an unrelenting drama of global magnitude unfurl before us because of the Awesome Foursome.

“I couldn’t ask for more,” said Go Teng Kok, the president of the organizing Philippine Amateur Track & Field Association (PATAFA). “Everything went in order. This is by far the best managed and staged National Open we’ve ever had in recent memory.”

The visiting athletes and officials from nearly 10 countries were likewise profuse in heaping praise to the trackfest, which featured the nation’s best athletes against rivals from the Asean bloc and countries in Mainland Asia.

So touched was Harry Angping, the chairman of the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC), that he offered to make Lingayen the venue “for the nation’s training center” for our future gold medal prospects in overseas jousts.

This, despite the fact that Angping, a former congressman, has been, in the beginning, hesitant in throwing his support behind the tournament.

GTK showed his sentiments by avoiding Angping when the PSC boss made a surprise visit in Lingayen.

But, for all the attendant minor intramurals between the feuding sports leaders, the event took on the bigger role as a catalyst for change, thanks mainly to the Fab Four.

With unity as displayed by Guv Spines, Mayor Al, Raffy & Alvin, no kink will not be licked.

Mayor Al of Dagupan and Alvin the City Administrator joined forces with Guv Spines and Raffy the Provincial Administrator, unselfishly forging a combo cemented on mutual respect and their inherent love for sports.

Truly, sports is the greatest unifier of all.

Our homegrown athletes, perhaps inspired by the Awesome Foursome’s warm reception and show of oneness despite great odds, showed their teeth and took the biggest bite of the medal tally with a huge haul of medals that included five national records broken.

“Absolutely, our bets played with heart and passion, mainly because they wanted to show their gratitude to their great hosts,” said GTK.

Aside from the Fab Four, special mention also goes to Joseph Sto. Domingo, Alvin’s indefatigable lieutenant, and Butch Velasco, Guv Spines’ trouble-shooting machine whose handling of his media duties as well are the stuff that make legends.

All the bases were brilliantly covered, so to speak, that just days after the event, GTK immediately voted Lingayen as the best venue” to train our athletes bound for “the SEA Games in December in Laos.

And what was Raffy B’s reply to that?

“By all means, let’s have them here,” Raffy said. “We are more than glad to house here the nation’s gallant heroes.”

Oh, well, heroes like the Fab Four deserve only heroes for company.

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