Pangasinan club to develop top cyclists

LINGAYEN, Pangasinan – The joint management team of the national open cycling championship held a two-day meeting in this historic town over the weekend and came out in support of the call of the Philippine Sports Commission chair Eric Buhain to produce more and better world class cyclists through the national open.

The joint team from the Philippine Cycling Federation (PCF) and the Tour of Luzon Events Management also inspected the facilities at the Narciso Ramos Sports and Civic Center site of the coming national open and declared the venue ready for the Dec. 3-8 event.

PCF executive vice president, Robert Leo Magaway said that the team agrees with the observation made by Buhain in the recent Asian Games in Busan, South Korea where majority of the Chinese athletes who dominated the competitions were tall athletes.

"We adopted the battlecry "Pedal for gold" as the rallying point of the national open with the 2003 Games in sight" said Magaway.

The national open shall also serve as the launching pad and elimination for the comebacking Tour of Luzon multi-stage bicycle race slated for the summer 2003."

He also expressed satisfaction over the inclusion of a climb to Baguio called "killer lap" as the main component of the national open’s road race.

Three-time Tour champion Jess Garcia said that past tour races were recognized by the International Cycling Union (UCI) on account of difficulty of the Baguio lap which is still the toughest mountain-climbing lap in bicycle race in Asia.

Meanwhile Art Valenzuela, managing director of TLEMI, said the possibility of there being two big races in 2003 signals the birth of the Philippine cycling as an industry akin to the professional basketball leagues.

"The big races should complement each other and move in one big direction of producing a gold or two for cycling within foreseeable future," said PCF secretary general, Armando Bautista.