Do the Duathlon

Just what is a duathlon?

Dualthlons are a 2-discipline sport that includes running and cycling ( basically run-bike-run). Duathlons were called biathlons when it appeared in the 1980’s. But a regular Olympic event was also called biathlon (a ski and shoot event which started in 1763), so the change to duathlon.

This is my first time to write about Duathlon, but when when I started cycling almost two decades ago, one of people I looked up to after Greg Lemond was Kenny Souza.

American Ken Souza was a character himself. Based on endorsements in the cycling magazines back then, I think that Souza was more popular than triathlete legends Mark Allen and Scott Tinley in their prime. What made Souza popular was in the California duathlon circuit was his race day attire that included neon trunks, a neon cap, neon singlet, neon shoes and a pair of golden Oakley Blades partly hidden among his rack star mane. In fact, I think that Souza made Oakley’s more popular than Greg Lemond even when he was still on top of his game. On top of his equipment, Souza also had a body a California surfer wannabe would die for, but he was a little bit well defined than the average triathlete.

Obviously, Souza couldn’t swim so he missed out on the triathlon bandwagon which has overshadowed duathlons since.

However, duathlon is alive in Cebu. This weekend, the DU it OFF-ROAD INVITATIONAL  DUATHLON will be held in Pulangbato, Cebu City. According to  RJ Balbuena, a roadie and a triathlete who helped organize this event, this duathlon is the off-road version, meaning, that an MTB, not a road bike, will be used in the cycling portion of this event. The elite cat will doing a 5K-20K-3K run-bike-run while the other cats will be doing a less punishing version, a 3k-20k-3k.

I have done a couple of races in a my very short “triathlon career” and I can say that it is a very, very, hard sport! It is the “run” part which is very painful . And with two runs in this event, that would mean double the pain. I think that the advantage of duathlons over triathlons is that it is more sport-friendly than triathlons, since swimming is out of the equation.

If you’re into endurance sports, you should try duathlon before your knees will give way. The irony here is that runners will think that they have an advantage over cyclists and vice versa. It may hurt to say this but I think that runners have an edge over cyclists.  If you’re just curious, please text or call RJ at this number: 0915.800.9241, and good luck!

Fr. John Geohgan

While I believe that dishonest cops, corrupt politicians and judges on the take are people who society should put behind bars, priests who sexually abuses kids deserves to burn in the Big Oven. Like most people, I don’t understand how the Church works but what I understand is that there is a code of Omerta comes into play and hush money changes hands when stuff like “sexual abuse” happens.

Consider this: Last July, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles has agreed to pay $660 million to more than 500 people who said they were abused by priests and other clerics. In 2003, two local boys were alleged to have been paid Php120,000 each not to pursue a sexual abuse case against a priest who was a member of the Order of St. Augustine. (there are more stories here- http://www.remedios.com.ph/fhtml/mk2q2005_thsa.htm)

But the most infamous priest/pedophile was Fr. John Geohgan of Boston. In his 30-year, 6-parish career, he was accused of sexual abuse many times and was finally convicted in 2002. In 2003, while in jail, he was strangled and then stomped to death by another inmate. The Archdiocese of Boston is still trying to settle the case with the 542(!) victims for $62million. 

But why is the Archdiocese of Boston trying to settle the case? Because there allegedly is evidence that the archdiocese had transferred Geohgan from parish to parish despite knowledge of his criminal behavior. Sounds familiar?