My wish: A new rubberized track

CEBU - We still have several hours left of 2008 and if you are not like this deadline beater, who’ll be at work today, you’ll have a lot of time to think of what had been and what could have been.

Of course we can never dwell on the past, but we can always look back to learn from our mistakes and also from what we did right.

When we entered 2008, I was hopeful that it was going to be a banner year for sports in the country due to the Beijing Olympics, which many believed was our best chance to win the elusive gold medal.

We did win a gold medal, but in the sport of wu shu, which is only a demonstration sport. So much for medal hopes, but at least our publicity-hungry politicians have not really gone out of their way to criticize sports officials and call a Senate or House inquiry.

The year was not however really bad for Philippine sports as Manny Pacquiao had brought honor to the country and lots of money into his bank account.

There were also the triumphs of our billiards stars and the other boxers. Although it hasn’t really been one unforgettable year, I’d say there were many things that took place in 2008 that we could learn from.

Locally, there were many things that did not happen that I hope to see in 2009. Personally, my biggest sports disappointment for the year is the failure of the planned repair and rehabilitation of the rubberized track of the Cebu City Sports Center to take off.

The facility, which is the best-utilized in the whole country among similar structures built for the Palarong Pambansa hosts, badly needs to replace its track. 

When the CCSC was completed in time for the Palarong Pambansa in 1994, we were told that the rubberized track has a life span of ten years. It has been 14 years since and the track, which has served many of us well, needs to be changed.

There were efforts to raise funds for the oval, but then nobody seems really bent on pursuing it so nothing has really moved just yet. Mayor Tom Osmeña said that the city will have money for that once it sells the lots of the South Road Properties (SRP), but I am sure there are many other sources that can be tapped for such project.

I believe the city owes it to the people to have the track oval repaired so the thousands, who have found the CCSC as a haven for exercise and family bonding would have a safe place to do so.

I look forward to visits to the sports center and the feel of walking on the rubberized track to reminisce those days when I spent so much time in athletic activities. I still love going back to the place, but it breaks my heart to see what hasn’t been done.

I haven’t lost hope though and I hope that in 2009 my dream and that of thousands of others who use the track oval would come true.

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MILESTONE: Yesterday my family got together to celebrate among many other things, the birth anniversary of my grandfather Cipriano Rosal Quiñones, Sr. Lolo Opring, as we fondly called him, was the biggest sporting influence in my life.

He used to wake me up at dawn so I could go on road runs when I was in high school and ruing my college days. He patiently watched me train in long jump in a pit that was right in front of our house in Minglanilla and often told me stories of his youth where he enjoyed biking in the northern towns of Cebu.

Lolo Opring would have been 89 yesterday. He passed away 8 years ago, but the many lessons he taught me including the love for sports and fitness remain fresh in my mind. (THE FREEMAN)