Jermyn Prado snatched two gold medals, Jonel Carcueva kept his throne, and Kim Bonilla was hailed as a rising star in the recent PhilCycling National Championships for Road. The race took place on what could be the most punishing and cruel road route in years.
Prado won the women’s individual time trial and criterium, retaining her title as the queen of Philippine cycling. However, she lost the criterium gold medal to Maura de los Reyes in the four-day championships hosted by Philippine Olympic Committee and PhilCycling president Mayor Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino in Tagaytay City.
Prado completed the 15-km individual time trial (ITT) in 34 minutes and 43.80 seconds. In the 104-km road race, she clocked 3:22:04, facing a punishing and cruel final 15 kms where the riders struggled with a steep climb from Agoncillo in Batangas to Alfonso in Cavite, leading to the Praying Hands monument in Tagaytay City.
Carcueva was equally relentless in the 127-km men’s road event, which included the same challenging climb. Many riders had to dismount and push their bikes up the gradient, ranging from 5 percent to a nerve-sapping 28 percent. Carcueva finished with a time of 3:05:20, leading a 1-2-3 finish by the Go For Gold team in the 120.85-km race, which featured 190 cyclists.
The event was presented by Standard Insurance and MVP Sports Foundation and supported by the POC, Philippine Sports Commission, Chooks-to-Go, and Excellent Noodles.
Rustom Lim recorded the best time of 36:21:50 in the 20-km Men Elite ITT, ending the reign of Mark John Lexer Galedo, who finished fifth, 13 seconds behind. Ryan Tugawin of Excellent Noodles dominated the Men Elite criterium, sharing the spotlight.
The championships began last week on Tuesday with criterium races around a 2.2-km loop starting and ending at the Praying Hands monument. The showdown between Prado and De Los Reyes in the final four laps became a story-book perfect encounter amidst blinding fog and heavy rain.
In the women’s race, consisting of eight loops, De Los Reyes and Prado emerged as the top competitors. Heavy rain and fog reduced visibility to around five meters, creating difficult conditions for the riders. In the final 200 meters, De Los Reyes made a mad sprint to the finish, winning the gold medal and relegating Prado, the 2019 Southeast Asian Games gold medalist, to silver.
As for Bonilla, at just 17 years old and hailing from Natividad in Nueva Ecija, she raced like a seasoned veteran and secured the Women Junior criterium and ITT gold medals. In the 86-km road race of the championships, she finished around half a minute behind Weniza Claire Vinoya (3:11:35.32).
The event was also supported by the POC, Philippine Sports Commission, 7-Eleven, CCN, and organized in cooperation with Tagaytay City, the Eighth District of Cavite, the First District of Batangas, the City of Calaca, and the Municipalities of Nasugbu, Tuy, Balayan, Agoncillo, Laurel, and Lian, as well as the Philippine National Police and Batangas Red Cross.
The other winners were: Mathilda Krogg (Under 23), Angelica Mae Alta Marino (Junior) and Maria Louisse Crisselle Alejado (Youth) in women’s criterium; Farin Guill Aisaiah Abigania (Youth), Pepito Khalil (Junior) and Steven Nicolas Shane Tablizo (Under 23) in men’s criterium;
Maria Louisse Crisselle Alejado (Youth) and Phoebe Salazar (Under 23) in women’s criterium; Darius John Villasenor (Youth), Andrei Domingo (Junior) and Joshua Pascual (Under 23) in men’s ITT; and John Arwin Velasco (Junior) and Joshua Pascual (Under 23) in men’s road race.
