Cebu City Councilor Jerry Guardo on his mountainbike testing the river trail which is part of the race course of his first mountain bike race slated on June 19, 2021 in Barangay Bonbon, Cebu City. | Contributed Photo
CEBU CITY, Philippines— The mountainous terrain of Barangay Bonbon, Cebu City, will be the center of mountain bike action as the first Jerry Guardo Extreme MTB Challenge is set to unfold on June 19, 2021.
The upcoming mountain bike event is organized by Cebu City Councilor Jerry Guardo, who is also a known sportsman.
Barangay Bonbon is located nine kilometers west of the city center of Cebu and can mainly be accessed through the Transcentral Highway (TCH).
This place is known for its unspoiled mountainous terrains and riverbeds, perfect for an off-road mountain bike event like the one slated on June 19.
The racecourse is a combination of the river trail, downhill, and uphill terrains. The race course is a property owned by Guardo’s brother, Jonathan, also a well-known Cebuano sportsman.
The entire race course stretches around 800-meters to one kilometer, according to Jerry Guardo.
One of the main goals of staging this mountain bike event is to promote Cebu City’s basic bike safety training program under the Sugbu Bike Lane Board.
“Primarily, this event is to promote safety in biking. It happened that I witnessed three bike-related accidents in Busay. So, I wanted this mountain bike race to be the banner event to promote our basic bike safety training program which was recently approved by the City Council,” Guardo told CDN Digital.
Also, part of the proceeds from the registration fee will be used to fund basic bike safety training program.
“Fifty pesos of the registration fee will be given to the safety training program’s equipment and other needs, especially for the coaches that will handle the training program,” added Guardo.
“Also, we received a lot of inquiries from the public to enroll in the safety training program, but many of them have no bikes, so we’re also planning to purchase bikes for the training program.”
The event will have seven categories: open/elite, beginners (17-24 years old), juniors (25-34 years old), executive (35 years old and above), women’s, fat bike, and kids (12-16 years old).
More than P40,000 worth of cash prizes is at stake for the top five winners in each division. Also, all participants will have a chance to win exciting raffle prizes courtesy of one of the race’s sponsors, FJB Bike Hubs.
They already drew 50 entries after opening the registration earlier this month. The registration fee is pegged at P300. To register, visit Jerry Guardo’s Facebook page. / dcb