Super rich Tour loses out on photo finish

LEGAZPI CITY – After months of preparations, not to mention the millions of pesos spent, organizers of the 2003 Tour Pilipinas seemed to have missed out on one important thing: a photo-finish camera.

So, instead of the highly reliable camera being used in top-caliber races like the Tour de France or the Tour de Langkawi in Malaysia, things in this comebacking summer event will have to be done the old-fashioned way.

"No choice. But we can get the job done," said finish line director Jose Deresas Friday on the absence of the photo-finish camera worth at least P300,000.

Deresas, a former Tour campaigner whose best finish was 10th place in 1966, has 22 people under his wings, each one of them with a specific task that would help determine the order of finish, particularly in the shorter, massed-start stages that normally ends in sprint finishes among a dozen or more cyclists.

"Nearing the finish, the race column director would have provided us the composition of the lead pack. So, once they cross the finish, all we have to do is determine the top five riders dahil identified na silang lahat. Anyway, same time na sila pag group finishes. It’s just that the top five will be rewarded cash prizes and corresponding bonus points," he said.

Just to make sure, Deresas’ group will have a couple of portable video cameras on hand – to be used only in cases of dispute which he hopes would never come.

The photo-finish camera connected to a computer is being installed right beside the finish line, and automatically takes pictures each time a bike runs over its wire taped diagonally across the street.

In case of close finishes, the image of the cyclists crossing the finish line is either printed or reviewed on a 21-inch computer monitor. Based on the entry numbers of the riders plastered on their hips and bikes, the order of finish is then determined.

"Madali talaga kung mayroong camera. In the Tour de France, they have it on both sides. May top-view camera pa na kita naman ang jersey numbers sa likod ng mga riders. Sa Langkawi naman, may helicopter pa," Derersas added. – Abac Cordero