Sports Eye
The west captured my heart
By Jesus A. Garcia Jr.
SEVEN of the ten races that I organized and directed during the last six months, I deliberately included the western part of Pangasinan in the race route. I did it for so many reasons. Principally, I observed over the years — throughout my training during my cycling glory days and now as an organizer — that there’s a lot less traffic jam in that route and motorists passing there are well-disciplined, unlike here in the more central part of the province. The risk of accidents is much lower. Also, it’s a well-paved road with hardly any bumps, there’s fresh sea breeze, and a long but not lung-busting winding highways. Believe me, it’s really an ideal place for any bicycle road racing. My race staff Sherwin Baguio likens the race route with the famous vegetable pinakbet, “kumpleto sa rekado at wala ka ng hahanapin pa,” he says.
After bagging the first runner-up plum during the 1965 Tour of Luzon as a rookie, I was asked to skipper the West Pangasinan squad in 1966 and 1967. My team, even with majority of the members being neophytes, won the team championship twice in-a-row. Not only that, in the 1967 Tour of Luzon, maybe because of moral support from our provincemates, especially from the west, and knowing that the race was within my turf, I won the 14th stage which was flagged off in Baguio City and ended in Alaminos. We stunned the national giants that even the late Atty. Geruncio Lacuesta, the founder of the Tour of Luzon, was impressed by our performance. After 1967, the Tour was temporarily discontinued for five years. Revived in 1973, that was the time I scored my first individual national triumph against all odds and also towed the Pangasinan squad (not West Pangasinan anymore and I don’t know why) to championship too. And the rest is history.
Last May I (Labor Day and Pista’y Dayat celebrations), I organized and directed the “3rd OO Na, Noynoy Na” bikefest that commenced in Urdaneta City and wound up in Candelaria, Zambales. (See related story on this page) Sponsored by Asahan Mo party-list chaired by my friend, Jun Omar Ebdane, we didn’t have any choice but to pass the traffic congested central towns of Pangasinan, but in a ‘controlled pace.’ And yes, as requested and agreed upon by Ebdane, project director Jun Velasco and myself, we passed seven of ten western Pangasinan municipalities and we received a warm welcome from the Candelaria townspeople spearheaded by the town’s chief executive Jean Moraña and her staff led by secretary to the mayor Carlos Concepcion and also Ebdane.
It was a star-studded event but the lengthy and winding 215-kilometer stretch saw several contestants dropping out of the grueling road battle, chiefly due to the scorching heat brought by the El Niño phenomenon. With God’s help, all the finishers arrived safe and sound to the delight of the crowd along the highways and at the finish line.
As I said, the west won my heart because of those factors. And I guess the same goes for the winner of this year’s event, Ericson Obosa of Manaoag. He also won this race in 2007, which started in my town Mangaldan and finished at Barangay Lucap in Alaminos City. Last year it was 2003 Tour Pilipinas king Arnel Quirimit of Pozorrubio at the helm.
As long as God will provide me the vigor and blessings to organize this kind of annual bikathon, I will never exclude the western parts of Pangasinan when planning the route.
Yes, the west captured my heart.
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Kudos to my son Jazy for winning the Tour de Guahan held May 2 in Guam. According to the Pacific Daily News based in Guam, my only cycling child Jazy outsprinted his breakaway partners, Caucasians Ben Ferguson and Derek Horton, in the last 150 meters to bag the $350 top prize. The duo clocked the 110-kilometer massed-start race in three hours, 33 minutes and three seconds. Horton was just a mere second behind the two.
For the women, Jazy’s better-half, Mylene, finished third with Chiyo Lumbard and Pamela Hwang coming in first and second, respectively. There were 51 starters and 45 survivors.
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