1st Bacolod eco-tour biking sets off

Monday, December 12, 2011

THE City Government of Bacolod and the Negros Occidental Cycling Federation (Nocfed) staged the 1st Bacolod Eco-Tour Mountain Bike (MTB) Adventure race at Hda. San Francisco Lake Resort, the newest tourist destination in Barangay Alangilan.

Nocfed is the umbrella organization of all biking clubs in Negros Occidental.

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Vice Mayor Jude Thaddeus Sayson, Councilors Homer Bais, Caesar Distrito, Em Ang and Bobby Rojas gave their full support to the sports tourism program.

The two-day sports event last December 10 and 11 featured a duathlon, a four-hour endurance race, sprint race and cross country bike race.

Race chairman Dan Ramirez said bikers and runners from Batangas, Palawan,
Manila, Dumaguete, Iloilo, Cebu, Davao and Bacolod competed in the various events.

BACOLOD. City and Nocfed officials pose at the starting line of the 1st Bacolod Eco Tour MTB Adventure Race at Hda. San Francisco Resort, Brgy. Alangilan, Bacolod. (Carla N. Cañet)

The event is aimed at attracting foreign and domestic tourists and at helping develop the place as an eco-tourism destination, according to the organizers.

Nocfed also invited Department of Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo, former Commission on Elections Commissioner Guyo Larrazabal and Richard and Lucy Gomez.

“We are all happy that this was successfully staged with the help of the City Government and also of Michael Bantug, president of the Bantug Realty Corporation which owns the venue of this sports event. This resort is so beautiful and fitting as a venue of this competition,” said Ramirez.

He added that biking and running nowadays have become a fad, to a point that it has become a passion for everyone to prevent heart and other lifestyle diseases.

For his part, Vice Mayor Sayson said, “We have something big here. Alangilan is a potential area to be included in the sports tourism calendar of the Philippines. This is now the CamSur (Camarines Sur) of Bacolod. Alangilan is our secret weapon against Camsur,” he said.