Viva Pangasinan

By Jesus A. Garcia Jr.

IT WAS in 1973 when our Pangasinan cyclists, led by this writer and my teammate and town mate Cesar Catambay, started the very first onslaught in Philippine road racings. It was then called the “Tour of Luzon,” the first professional multi-stage bicycle road race in the country. The following year, Basista-born Teodorico Rimarim, now deceased, captured the title with teammate Catambay repeating his 1973 feat. Two Samsons emerged as champions in 1975 with Mangaldan son Samson Carino as king in the Tour of PICCA (Philippine Industrial Commercial Cycling Association) and Samson Etrata of Binalonan seizing the year’s Tour of Luzon championship. The 1976 diadem was wrested by Sual son Modesto Bonzo. There were three professional races in 1977, two of which I won, the PICCA and the Tour of Luzon, Visayas, Mindanao.

I migrated to America in 1978 when I was still at the prime of my cycling career. I chose to go to America because it was my first dream to see my father in the flesh for the first time and of course also my Mexican relatives, so I decided to quit my beloved chosen profession. What a nostalgic reunion it was.

The years 1978 to 1980 were not so good for our local riders. But from 1981 to 1985, our local bets reigned supreme anew in this two-wheeled sport. The late Jacinto Sicam from San Manuel started the blitz and became the first Pangasinense to win the Marlboro Tour (1981-1982) back-to-back, the late Romeo Bonzo in 1983, Mangaldanon Ruben Carino in 1984 and Pepito Calip of Binalonan in 1985.

Pangasinan was crownless from 1986 to 1990 but, San Nicolas-born Bernardo Llentada snatched the 1991 Marlboro Tour crown. And like what happened in 1978 to 1980 and 1986 to 1990, the Pangasinan’s pedal-pushers performance starting in 1992 declined tremendously until the year 2000 when San Jacinto son Reynaldo Navarro finally grabbed the Pilipinas bikathon coronet. The dusky Santy Barnachea of Umingan became the second three-time Tour champion from Pangasinan (after me) by snaring the 2002 Tour of Calabarzon, 2006 Padyak Pinoy and the 2011 Ronda Pilipinas Tour.Of course, let’s not forget Pozorrubio native Arnel Quirimit who won the 2003 Tour Pilipinas championship and the others in the old Tour of Luzon like Rufino Gabot of Laoac in 1957, Mamerto Eden Sr. of Mapandan in 1958, Edmundo de Guzman of Lingayen in 1962, and Gonzalo Recodos of Laoac in 1963.

And now comes our new champion in the person of Baler Ravina from Asingan, winning the recently concluded four-day (April 14-17) Le Tour de Filipinas, beating a field of 74 participants including 55 strong foreign contestants from as far as Germany, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Japan, Taiwan, China, the Netherland, Uzbekistan, Iran and Malaysia. The pint-sized Ravina, born on December 22, 1981, won the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI)-sanctioned race by just 16 seconds over Singporean Loh Sea Keong and 1:03 minutes over final stage winner and Ravina’s breakaway partner and 2009 Padyak Pinoy champ Joel Calderon from Guimba, Nueva Ecija who bagged the second runner-up plum. The five-foot-two-inch high altitude specialist Ravina is thanking the 133.8-kilometer stretch from Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya to Baguio City via the treacherous-scenic Ambuklao Dam road because it really suited him, being a three-time King of the Mountains during his colourful career. If not for that mountain stage, he told me, he probably would not have won the race. His five-man team Go Air 21, composed of an all-Pangasinan squad, placed third in the general classification. The former Pitaki Boyz member Ravina, married to Pozorrubio lass Jovie Estayo who bore their now two-year old child Valerie, said the Le Tour de Filipinas was just a tune-up race for him and he is seriously preparing for the much bigger and richer race, the 2012 Ronda Pilipinas Tour which offers a whopping P1-million top prize each in individual and team competitions. The Ronda reels off on May 20 and the defending champion is Barnachea.

First to text me after the race was former Pangasinan governor Oscar M. Orbos, a cycling fanatic himself saying, “Congrats, more power to Pang. cyclists and to u who has always worked, promoted their interests and welfare. God bless.” That was followed by sports buff and LNU basketball team coach Angel Gumarang saying, “Pangasinan pride Baler Ravina adds another prestige and honor to the already long lists of homegrown CYCLING TOUR CHAMPIONS that includes writer Jess Garcia, Jr. I am proud to be a Pangasinense.” And he kiddingly added “Really pagdating sa cycling tour, we are the best but sorry to say kung sa basketball ay kulelat tau. Hahaha.” Former cyclist and now Mapandan alderman Mamerto Eden, Jr. also texted me to say, “Congratulations and Mabuhay ang Pangasinan.”

What more can I say but shout, “VIVA PANGASINAN!” The victory of Ravina again proves that cycling is really the sport of our province.

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QUOTEOF THE WEEK: Have not I, the Lord? And there is no other God besides Me, a just God and a Saviour; there is none besides Me. “Look to Me, and be saved, all you ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other. ISAIAH 45: 21-22

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