Appreciating the Tour ni Frank

The Tour ni Frank is officially 15 years old. Unofficially, it's more than that.

Back in February of 1999, a man, who turned out to be Frank Gatdula, came to my office one day. He was referred to me by Jun Farrarons, the owner of the now defunct ASP Cyclehaus in the now defunct Cebu Citicenter (currently a V-Hire Terminal). Thirteen years earlier, ASP Cyclehaus was one of the major sponsors of Rolando “Boy” Pagnanawon, when the tuba gatherer from Talisay won the 1986 Marlboro Tour.

Frank had just arrived from Iloilo, where his wife, Sally, came from. Frank told me that he was from the town of Compostela before moving to Sacramento, USA. He was very enthusiastic about local cycling but he knew more about Illongo cyclists than the Cebuanos. He wanted to join local rides, help talented but disadvantaged cyclist and help organise bicycle races.

At the time we met, local weekend “amateur” races was not only disorganised but also, no one wanted to lead it. You could be racing against local legends Enoy Delica one week and then Dondon Rosales the following week. It seemed then that cyclists like me were nothing but chicken feeds, putting 10 pesos on the winner’s purse and DNF-ing all the time.

So I thought that if I was going to race, then it should be a level playing field and the only way to do it was to organise it myself! And for the next decade and a half, I did.

The races was very “small time”, (I called it “Tigbakay”) and it was held at the newly minted Mandaue North Reclamation Area, a place Dan Wistihuff III would later fondly rename, “Wreakla”, since the place was pocked with potholes, and was wreaking havoc on our bicycles.

The Saturday after Frank’s visit, he went to the Wreakla to watch the local version of the Tour de France. He took in everything he saw and decided he was coming back the next year to organize a bigger event.

Now you would think that organising bicycle races would be profitable. Unfortunately, it’s not. Unlike triathlons or marathons, there’s only a limited number of participants that was willing to join a race. It’s not that we have to limit the participants to a certain number, but racing bicycles needs not only proper training but money to get a good starter racing bicycle!

Consider this: The registration fee for the biggest non-professional race, the Tour of Matabungkay is 6000Php, and that’s for a 3-4 event, 3-day race. The 70.3 Ironman cost more than 12,000Php for a half day event. Yet, the Ironman is limiting the number of participants, while a bicycle race organizer will never know until race day how many will show up!

For Frank Gatdula to come over here, every year, and spend a lot of personal money for his event, is simply amazing and needs to be recognised and appreciated. Its easy for a few to complain about a race when things don’t go their way but if they only consider organising a bicycle race, then they’d know.

Congratulations, Sally and Frank, for the last 15 years of great racing in the TnF. Here’s to another 15 more years! Chapeau!