Celebrities in sports

When celebrities take part in sports, the event draws more people and thus encourages many to also try to sport.

Recently, many celebrities have taken part in events here like the Xterra Off-Road Triathlon and in other sporting activities.

When I was only starting as a sportswriter a little over 20 years ago, among the celebrities who also took part in sporting endeavors was Richard Gomez, who dabbled in karting and fencing. He even made it into the national fencing team.

There were also those who took part in jet ski racing, motocross and a few others while we had celebrities playing basketball going to various places around the country.

As the years passed when Richard got hooked into golf, he also started the Goma Cup, which was played in various courses in Luzon and even Boracay. Once, the participants of the event were in Cebu for the Omega Cup played at Alta Vista Golf and Country Club.

There were also the female stars, who took part in beach volleyball while others got hooked into badminton and running.

While some people seem to look at the participation of stars in sports as mere attention seeking, I believe that many of them have included taking part in sports as a way to keep fit and look good.

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Local celebrities including politicians are not only using sports to help them get votes in the elections, but also participate in the events to test their abilities.

Among those who used to be very active participants of sporting events was Ramon ‘Nito’ Durano III, who is currently the vice mayor of Danao City.

He was always with his nephew Oscar ‘Boying’ Rodriguez, Jr., who also served as councilor of the northern city. They would join runs and biking events.

The latest among the sporty officials is Mayor Duke Frasco of Liloan, who for the past two years has taken part in the Xterra, which is hosted by his town.

There are others, who try hard to take part in runs, but are not as competitive as the ones I have mentioned above.

In my town of Minglanilla, Councilor Robert John Selma, who topped the May 2010 polls, is so much involved in shooting. Well, he has long been engaged in sports as during our younger days, we played alongside each other in our organization’s volleyball team.

I hope to see more serious competitors from among local personalities, because this will also encourage others to get into sports.

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The 2nd Run UP High is set on June 10.

This is for the benefit of the scholarship program of the UP Cebu High School Alumni Association.

Details will be announced during the press conference on May 9 set at City Sports Club Cebu.

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MILESTONES: Happy birthday greetings to Dr. Rowena ‘Wee’ Burden, Gilbey Cleopas-Mercado, my Tao brothers Tirso Ramon ‘Jinggoy’ Roa and Tracy Tradio, Renier Lapitan, and Bernard Restificar.

Advance greetings to Rady Abarintos, who is celebrating tomorrow.

More power to all of you!