By Jesus A. Garcia Jr.

 

AFTER three years of hiatus due to the pandemic, the world’s big sports activities like football, baseball, basketball, boxing, cycling, marathon, to name some, are on the rise again.

Officials of five towns of our beloved province are finally ready to stage sports activities that are well-liked by their constituents in connection with their respective fiestas. Spearheading this year is Villasis town that will celebrate its fiesta on January 13 and 14. It will stage a mountain bike race on January 13 divided in seven categories namely; for 60 years old and above, 45-59 years old, 30-44 years old, 29 and below years old, open category, master division and ladies 60 years old and above category.

The second is San Fabian and unlike the previous years with only cycling event conducted, this year’s sports skirmishes will be under the leadership of the kind-hearted and sports-minded Marlyn E. Agbayani. It will stage competitions in chess, amateur boxing and run/walk on January 20 and 21 instead of cycling road race done for many years annually with this writer as the perennial race director. Change of taste, ‘ika nga, a logical move dedicated to all her sports avid enthusiasts. According to this year’s town fiesta sports chairman councilor Riemzie Abrio, the chess tourney will be done at West Central Elementary School starting 8:00 a.m. while the boxing event to be conducted at the town’s sports center starts at 3:00 p.m. The footrace is categorized 3K and 5k and all participants of the said three sports hostilities are exclusively for San Fabian bona fide residents. The footrace starts and ends in front of the town’s municipal hall. Of course, cash prizes and medals are at stake for the top five winners of each sports event. The three events will be directed by my son, two-time Olympian (1992 Barcelona, 2000 Sydney) cyclist Jazy F. Garcia with councilor Abrio at the helm.

The third municipality to hold sports tilt is my beloved town Mangaldan. As expected, it will be basketball on February 3 instead of not cycling that brought national multiple honors to the town. The municipal officials headed by newly designated municipal sports coordinator Ildefonso “Dhey” Benton titled the activity as First Inter-Commercial Basketball Tournament.

The fourth sports tilt is the Sta. Maria Cycling Marathon in Sta. Maria town on February 19 with five categories at stake namely; pro-elite, women open, mountain bike open, master open (40 up to 54 years old) and 55 years old and above but except former professional cyclists.

The fifth municipality that I know (so far) is Mapandan. It will celebrate its town fiesta on March 17-24. According to my son Jazy who’s collaborating closely with Mayor Karl Vega, the sport tilt will be a mountain bike race of around 50 kilometers distance. As of this writing, no definite date was announced.

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QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is the rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” HEBREW 11: 6

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