By Jesus A. Gacia Jr.

 

DESPITE my retirement in competitive cycling after an accident that struck me in 2001, and now as an aging hombre, the two-wheeled event still never escaped my mind as an organizer, race director, and sometimes even as sponsor (when I have the means) like what I did last January 15. Frankly, my foremost objective in organizing, directing and sponsoring some road races is to contribute to the development of skills of our local cyclists by organizing more races for the up-and coming cyclists with good potentials, and to discover young talents that can make our province proud  in national and international competitions.

The race for honor for Pangasinan was started six decades ago by Laoac son, the living legend professional cyclist Rufino Gabot when he won the fabled 1957 Tour of Luzon. And perhaps unknown to amateur cyclists, this cycling-crazy province of ours also already produced two Asian gold medalists in 1963 – a medal each from the brothers Ricardo and Reynaldo Rico of Labrador town in track events in the Asian Cycling Championships held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. And the third Pangasinense to win was the late Edgardo Pagarigan of Bugallon who won a silver medal in the track event of the 1983 Asian Cycling Championships, hosted by the Philippines. The fourth and the last Pangasinense to win a medal (silver) was Pozorrubio-born Arnel Quirimit in the road race category in 2001 hosted by Kaohsiung, Taiwan. Two years later, Quirimit won the prestigious 15-day Tour ng Pilipinas.

My record book likewise shows that more Filipino pedal-pushers won gold medals in track events of Asian Cycling Championships. Manileños Roberto Sanchez and Claudio Romeo won in 1963, Benjamin Evangelista of Quezon province in 1977, Guaves brothers Rolando and Rodolfo also in 1977.

Another Filipino gold medalists was the late Manuel Reynante in 1965 with the late Cornelio Padilla, Jr. taking the bronze. The Philippine team bagged the team gold with the effort from San Carlos City-born Jose delos Santos to finish fourth. The last Pangasinense to win a medal (silver) in Asian Cycling Championships was Pozorrubio ace Quirimit in 2001 and the last Filipino to win a silver was Manileño Jan Paul Morales in track event in 2015.

From 2015 until now, we’ve not nailed a major medal win, and we, former riders with wide experience cannot help but wonder why. Records show that competitive cycling is now being dominated by South Korea, Japan, China and Iran, Kazakhstan, Hong Kong, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, to name some.  Unfortunately, the Philippines has been lagging behind in Asian cycling medals harvest. When asked about the downfall of the Philippines in this sport, Asian gold medalist and Olympic veteran Rolando Guaves said the program of Philippine cycling today is very wrong. Our country has stopped conducting annual national cycling championships in road and track events to select the cream of the of the crop of Philippine cyclists. It has since become a turo-turo system or favoritism policy.

Asian, Olympic and World championships veteran Evangelista echoed what Guaves said. “Hanggang porma lang sila (national team) pero wala namang silang binatbat sa Asia,” Evangelista grudgingly said. I agree, that’s also my assessment. Another reason I know that contributed to our downfall in cycling races was the hiring of non-veteran cyclists to coach and train our national squad. This is a faux pas on the part of our national cycling officials led by Cong. Bambol Tolentino. Comparing it to Philippine basketball, the coaches of our nationals and in the PBA teams are all ex-PBA or former college standout players.

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QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you.” EXODUS 20: 12

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