Ace riders brace for RP Open races

The country’s top cyclists and up-and-coming riders will converge in Tagaytay City and at the Amoranto Velodrome in Quezon City next week for the national open championships for road, mountain bike (MTB) and track (velodrome).

The road competition on Jan. 15 will cover a 160-km out-and-back (Tagaytay International Convention Center) course, while the MTB race will cover a 50-km route, majority of which will be on rough, rugged and uphill terrain also in Tagaytay, Talisay and Laurel. Both races will commence at 8 a.m.

The track competitions on Jan. 16 at Amoranto starting at 9 a.m. will be on three major events–individual pursuit, sprint and 1-km.

The national open will usher in the quadrennial elections of the PhilCycling, or the Integrated Cycling Federation of the Philippines, which are set at 1 p.m. of Jan. 16 at the Amoranto Multi-Purpose Hall in Quezon City.

Pat McQuaid, president of the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), has been invited by PhilCycling president Bert Lina to grace the elections, along with Asian Cycling Confederation president Cho Hee Wok and secretary general Choi Boo Wong and Asean Cycling Association president Haji Abu Samah Wahab and Philippine Olympic Committee-led by president Jose Cojuangco Jr. and Philippine Sports Commission (PSC)-led by chairman William Ramirez-officials.