Velodrome in Pangasinan

By Jesus A. Garcia Jr.

I WAS on my way to Lingayen to watch some competitions in the Philippine National Games (PNG) last week when I received a call from my friend Percy Della of the Philippine Daily Inquirer informing me that our sports-minded Gov. Amado T. Espino, Jr. is contemplating a plan to build a velodrome. I was so elated because, we, the province’ cyclists have been longing for one to be built in Pangasinan since 1960s. This is long overdue, ‘ika nga. No governor in the past even dared to contemplate one despite the fact that our province is described by many as the cradle of Philippine cycling.

Yes, there was one velodrome partially constructed in 1975 in Bayambang town founded by the first father of Philippine cycling, the late Atty. Geruncio Lacuesta, but it was never completed because of the controversial “Mangabol” case that many said caused his assassination on November, 1983).

In fact, then world sprint champion Peder Pedersen of Denmark came to Bayambang summer of 1975 and raced against our local and national riders headed by 1975 Tour of Luzon champion Samson Etrata of Binalonan and former Tour titlist Paquito Rivas. As expected, the Danish sprinter won, but surprisingly by just less than a half wheel length against Etrata. Lacuesta did not allow me join the skirmishes since I was with the other cycling group called “Philippine Inter-Commercial Cycling Association,” a rival group of Lacuesta’s cycling organization.

Today, we have only one velodrome in the country located in Quezon City but it is already obsolete and sub-standard because the track lanes were made of cement instead of wood, and the size of the oval is 400 meters not 333 meters which is the international and Olympic standard of length per round.

It’s high time we build a new one and in the province since cycling is so popular in our place. We already produced 19 national individual champions with 25 national crowns excluding the countless national team diadems. I believe that no other individual sport has ever surpassed or even equal what our local cyclists accomplished for the province. We already had two Pangasinenses who won two silver medals in Asia Cycling Championships, the late Edgardo Pagarigan of Bugallon in 1983 (velodrome) and Arnel Quirimit of Pozorrubio in 2001 (road race).

It was Philippine Sports Commission Chairman (PSC) Ricardo “Ritchie” Garcia in a speech during a welcome party hosted by Gov. Espino during the PNG who stressed that Pangasinan is the most ideal place to build the country’s second velodrome since Pangasinan is home to Philippine cycling greats. He challenged Gov. Espino to consider a velodrome to make Pangasinan again the number one in cycling in the country. With a velodrome, he said the province can host national and international competitions to reclaim its foothold in the two-wheeled sport. I agree. PSC Commissioner Jolly Gomez offered to share his blueprint for an ideal velodrome where cyclists can be trained year-round. I sure hope the project will materialize. I wish and hope that whoever wins as governor, he will push through with the plan of Gov. Espino. Hopefully this time the project will not end up as “Velodream.”

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QUOTE OF THE WEEK: But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in the mirror. JAMES 1: 22-23

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