CEBU CITY, Philippines — To ensure the health and safety of both participants and spectators of the upcoming 2021 Philippine National MTB CXO (Crosscountry) and Downhill Championships in Danao City, north Cebu, PhilCycling Vice President Oscar “Boying” Rodriguez Jr. will implement stricter rules in the race venue.
The much-awaited Southeast Asian Games (SEAG) qualifying mountain bike competition will be held in Barangay Sandayong Sur.
According to Rodriguez Jr., who is also the top honcho of the Danao City Sports Commission (DCSC), they have to strictly follow the health protocols and guidelines of the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases or IATF to prevent the transmission of COVID-19 from both the competitors and spectators.
“Everything is ready. The cyclists from Manila just arrived last weekend. Since this is a major race, a qualifying event for the SEA Games, we will be strictly implementing the health and safety protocols of the IATF as what the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) have required,” Rodriguez Jr. told CDN Digital.
“We will strictly implement the health and safety protocols so we can prevent any COVID-19 transmission. We will prioritize the health and safety of both the participants and competitors.”
Only a limited number of supporters or spectators are also allowed on the racecourse and finish line. Also, the support team of each participant is prohibited from giving water on the sidelines.
Instead, Rodriguez Jr. and his team will put up water stations along the racecourse where support teams must wear face masks and gloves while handling water bottles.
They also limit the number of competitors to 50 in each category in both the cross-country and downhill races.
Aside from their strict implementation of the health and safety protocols, Rodriguez Jr. will also implement strict rules for the competitors by limiting their time to practice in the racecourse.
The reason behind it is to level the playing field among all competitors.
“We decided to give them two days to practice in the racecourse. Letting them practice there every day gives them an unfair advantage over other competitors. By doing this, we can determine which cyclist truly deserves to represent the country in the SEA Games,” Rodriguez Jr. stated.
“We want to avoid selecting cyclists who will only struggle in races abroad. We want to form a team that can compete.”
They will also be strict with their selection of cyclists that will join Cebuano ace rider Niño Surban and EJ Flores in the men’s national MTB team and Arianna Dormitorio in the women’s national team.
This qualifying race will select four qualifiers in both the men’s and women’s divisions. According to Rodriguez Jr., Surban, Flores, and Dormitorio are already seeded.
“We’re looking for other cyclists that can complete the team for the Vietnam SEA Games. It is because we need four entries and three to run or compete,” said Rodriguez.”
“As you can see, other countries have higher accumulated points in UCI races abroad, while we only have very few, maybe one or two cyclists who made it to UCI’s top ten, so we’re going to select the specified number of cyclists for SEA Games.” /rcg