Danao hosts RP Open MTB events

MANILA, Philippines - Danao City, site of several international competitions, will host the 2010 National Open for mountain bike, which the PhilCycling, the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI)-recognized federation, is staging later this month.

Danao City Councilor Oscar “Boying” Rodriguez Jr., the PhilCycling chairman and a UCI international commissaire for mountain bike, will conduct the National Open Feb. 19-20.

It is expected to lure the country’s best and promising riders in both cross-country and downhill events for men and women.

The city has played host to the Asian Championships in 1998 as well as the Southeast Asian Games which the country hosted in 2005.

“Danao City has maintained its MTB (mountain bike) courses that suits to UCI standards and we expect the competition to be tough and tight,” said Rodriguez.

Road race events – massed start and time trials – for the open will be conducted in Tagaytay City, according to Mayor Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino, the PhilCycling president.

The track competitions will also be held in the same week at Quezon City’s Amoranto Sports Complex where a 400-meter velodrome stands.

The PhilCycling, according to Tolentino, will also start issuing 2010 UCI licenses to qualified riders, officials and commissaries.

The country’s tried and tested elite riders are bound to face the challenge from a phalanx of youngsters who are aspiring to become members of the national pool and team in the Open.

The PhilCycling would be sending riders to the Asian Championships for road and track, the Asian Mountain Bike Championships and the Track Asia Cup later this year.

Hosted by the United Arab Emirates, the Asian meet will be held in April. The Track Asia Cup, a purely velodrome competition that is also held annually, will be held in Malaysia and Thailand later in the year.

The technical guide for the open would be available at the federation website http://philcycling.wordpress.com or through Paquito Rivas (09166419770) or Jojo Villa (09204562227).