Going to the races!

October is again a fun time for all the Cebuano Roadies. Yesterday, the Talisay Fiesta Crit was held in the closed circuit of the South Coastal Road. Next weekend, it will be the Ormoc City Medical Society Road race organized by Dr. Jaime Gatchalian. The 90km race will start with a fun ride from Ormoc going west to the town of Merida where the race will officially start. The peloton will then move north the town of PHILPHOS and PASAR, Isabel. From Isabel, the race will go back to Ormoc then make a left turn after the provincial hospital to wrap up the highest point of the event, the 14K climb to Milagro.

The OCMS RR is one of the long running road races in the Visayas area so Cebu executive teams Red Bull, Leo and Cebu Cycling-Sky Logistics are going to be there. In 2010, Art Lambo, riding for CC-Hortaleza won the event.

The following weekend will be the Tour of Matabunkay in Batangas and about 20 Cebuanos will be there. (I’ll be doing a longer article about the ToM next week). The final race this month will be held again at the South Coastal Road, the 2nd JUSCAR CUP. The first edition was memorable for me since I finished 2nd in a race I thought I wouldn’t be able to finish. But that’s just road racing, you don’t have to be the strongest to win.

Monsters

There is no more despicable creature crawling on the face of the earth than a pedophile. I know most of you don’t follow college football but you must have read about Joe Paterno.

JoePa was an icon and a legend at Penn State, where he coached for the Nittany Lions for 60, yes, 60 years! He had a very successful program and he had two national championships and year-to-year consistencies to show in a very competitive sport.

Last November, he was fired by Penn State, that is after refusing his resignation, when an investigation showed that he knew about the actions of his assistant coach, a monster named Jerry Sandusky. Sandusky was charged and was convicted of child molestation under the watch of Paterno.

JoePa’s six decades of goodwill came crashing down when it was shown that he was aware that his assistant coach, Sandusky, was groping kids in the shower and did nothing about it. Two months after he was fired, JoePa died officially from lung cancer. I say officially because a broken heart and the scandal probably accelerated his demise. His statue was removed from the campus and so were the good things he did for the community.

Pedophiles are very good in getting near their victims as these wolves can be seen wearing coaches’ jackets and priests’ frocks and in doing so, can get their prey easily in the most detestable way, by guile and cunning their way into a child’s heart. For instance, Sandusky was the chairman of a non-profit organization called the “Second Mile, serving Pennsylvania’s underprivileged and at-risk youth. It was at this charity that Sandusky met his victims. So if you sense that your kids are “close” to someone who they should not be, be leery about it.

There are no 2 sides about it that molestation perpetrated by a person sitting in a high moral pedestal is definitely beyond words. To make matters worse, these institutions that these perps belong to are perceived as protectors making it hard to prosecute them. Google “Fr. John Geoghan” and you’ll now what I mean. The only way for us, parents, to make sure our kids do not become victims of these vermins is to be ever vigilant.