Officials of Sunrise Events Inc. and the Children’s Hour Foundation turn over the P250,000 check to principal Rebecca Toring for the benefit of Marigondon Elementary School students. (CDN PHOTO/DAFNE WENCESLAO)
Cebu’s IronMan World C’ship hosting bid should be given some thought, says Uytengsu
With the success of last the Cobra IronMan 70.3 Asia-Pacific Championships last Sunday, many believe Cebu is ready to host the IronMan 70.3 World Championships.
But Sunrise Events Inc. CEO Wilfred Steven Uytengsu believes they should first thoroughly study the move before making a decision.
Uytengsu, who headed an outreach program at the Marigondon Elementary School yesterday in partnership with the IronMan foundation and the Children’s Hour Foundation, said that they have to consider a lot of things before deciding to host the IronMan 70.3 World Championships in Cebu.
In an interview, Uytengsu cited one problem that can pop up if they push through with the hosting of the world championships in Cebu.
He said around 2,500 Filipino triathletes may not be able to compete in the World event to give way to qualified international triathletes.
“What will happen to this 2,500-plus Filipino triathletes?” Uytengsu asked. “So do we do two races (in a year) or do we skip a year?”
This is the reason why he believes much thought should be put into this decision.
“It’s too early to tell. We’ll have to give that some thought. I spoke with Geoff Meyer about [the world championship hosting] and we need to sit down on those things first before we consider to host the world championships,” Uytengsu said.
Proud Cebuano
Uytengsu believes in the IronMan motto that anything is possible. But he needs to weigh things first before taking on the daunting task of bringing the world championships to Cebu.
Meanwhile, Uytengsu admitted he felt so proud to be a Cebuano right now because of Cebu’s successful hosting of the Asia-Pacific Championships.
He thanked the cities of Lapu-Lapu, Mandaue, Cebu and Talisay for their contribution in making the race a success.
“I think it went better than we hoped it would. The tremendous support from the four cities, the spectators, the volunteers was fantastic.”
He said he got a lot of positive feedback from visiting triathletes again.
“We are very pleased and very proud of our achievements for this race but I believe in the saying, ‘Good enough never is.’ There are things we can improve on but I have to keep it to myself so that we can exceed everyone’s expectations next year.”