PADS Youth paddlers make waves Emmanuel B. villaruel

CEBU, Philippines — The young but promising paddlers of the Philippine Accessible Disability Services (PADS) Youth Development Program stole the show in the highly successful 1st Tudela Dragon Boat Exhibition Race staged last Thursday, May 20, at the Fr. Joseph Weirtz Bayview Park in Barangay Southern Poblacion, Tudela, Camotes Island.

The Canduman Under 24 squad of Mandaue City led PADS’ hot charge in the grueling, yet exciting competition with two championship trophies.

Canduman topped the youth mixed category after finishing the small boat 200-meter sprint race with the fastest time of one minute and .35 seconds. Umapad placed second with time a time of 1:02.85 followed by Paknaan with a 1:03.64 clocking.

Canduman then timed a minute and 55.87 seconds to reign supreme in the juniors open. The next two spots were taken by the Paknaan A (1:58.84) and Paknaan B (2:01.62).

PADS, on the other hand, ruled the premiere mixed class in 57.92 seconds followed by the Black Manta Warriors with 57.99sec. Canduman wound up third with a time of 1min, 1.93sec.

PADS also stamped its class in the women’s division with a time of 2:05.63.

The Black Manta Warriors, an assortment of dragon boat racers from Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu City, caught part of the spotlight after claiming three titles via the premiere open (54.54sec), mixed masters (1:57.85) and  masters open (1:52.95).

“It was a very gratifying experience for our youth paddlers who competed for the first time,” said John Paul JP” Maunes, who founded the PADS Adaptive Dragon Boat Racing Team that has been performing remarkably well both on the national and international stage since its inception in 2017.  “Our happiness is beyond measure seeing that our efforts and sacrifices paid off. Their parents were very happy too knowing that their children have a bright future under our program.”

“Most importantly, I’m proud and happy because we are slowly fulfilling what we have envisioned for the sport of dragon boating in Cebu,”Maunes added. “That is why we are very grateful to the city government of Mandaue because we could not have done all of this without their full support.”