Cross Cebu 600 puts spotlight on Cebu’s big 3 in cycling

BIG THREE OF CEBU’S CYCLING: They are Jonel Carcueva (from left), Jhunvie Pagnanawon, and Junreck Carcueva. | Photos from Jbmclickers and Facebook

CEBU CITY, Philippines — Cebu has found its newest big three in cycling after the Cross Cebu 600, which was held around Cebu on November 12 to 14. 

The big three is composed of the Cross Cebu 600 pro champion Jonel Carcueva, second placer Jhunvie Pagnanawon, and third placer Junreck Carcueva. 

During their guesting with the CDN Digital Sports Talk on Wednesday, November 24, 2021, Pagnanawon said that the three of them worked as a team during the entire race so nobody from outside Cebu will take the title. 

“Akong gisulti sa akong kaugalingon walay pa championon taga laing lugar. Mao to sige na mi og bonding kaming tulo. Nagkasinabot mi nga magtinabangay mi. Walay pachampionion taga Manila ug taga Mindanao, ato ra gyud,” said Pagnanawon.

(I told myself that I will not allow other places to be the champion. That is why we spent a lot of bonding time. We agreed that we will help each other. We won’t allow cyclists from Manila and Mindanao (to be champions) — Only from Cebu.)

In the end, Carcueva finished the race at 15 hours, 34 minutes and 03.51 seconds, while Pagnanawon claimed the second spot with 15:34.05.17.

Carcueva’s brother, Junreck, rounded off the overall top three with a time of 15:34.29.30. 

Two other Cebuanos, Elmer Navarro and Joland Olmilla grabbed the fourth and fifth places respectively.

With their teamwork, the trio of the Carcueva brothers and Pagnanawon pocketed a combined cash prize of P175,000. 

Jonel, being the top placer got the biggest purse of P100,000 while Jhunvie walked away with P50,000 and the younger Carcueva, Junreck receiving P25,000. 

“Nindot kaayo to nga lumba kay para unta to sa preparation nako sa Tour of Thailand, pero wala man madayon kay apiki na sa adlaw,” said Jonel. 

(It was a good race because that is for my preparation for the Tour of Thailand, but this did not push through because it was already too near.)

For the younger Carcueva, it was a fitting return for him in long-distances races. The last time Junreck competed in a long-distance cycling event was in 2018.

“Excited ko kay ang route lisud, excited sad ko ani kay last ko nakajoin og ing-ani nga race 2018 pa. Mao to akong first. Kani mao ni akong second karon. Naa sad pressure gamay nga lisud ang route, pero excited mi moduwa,” said Junreck. 

(I was excited because the route was difficult, I was also excited because the last time I joined a similar race was in 2018. That was my first time. This is my second time. There is a little pressure because the route was difficult but I was excited to compete.)

On the other hand, Jhunvie, the son of the 1986 Marlboro Tour champion Rolando Pagnanawon, said that he could have performed better if he didn’t get injured during training.

He said that weeks before the race, he was sidelined after figuring in a minor accident that resulted to an injury. 

“Dugay na namo gipangandaman ni nga race. Sige lang ug ka postpone, na timingan na disgrasya ko. Lugi ko ato nga preparation kay two weeks ko ato nagtraining. Fighting spirit na lang ug veterans move na lang gyud ko,” said Jhunvie. 

(I had prepared for this for a long time. It was postponed time and again and it was bad timing when I met an accident and the race was scheduled. Two weeks of training wasted. What was left was only my fighting spirit and veterans move.)

All three vaunted cyclists are gearing up for next year’s Ronda Pilipinas which was postponed last September due to the sudden uptrend of the Delta variant of COVID-19. 

All three cyclists may represent different teams, but they all have one thing in common—to represent the Cebuanos in the big stage. 

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