MARCH is almost here! It’s almost one year since we started enduring the challenges that the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic has brought into our lives.
March, too, reminds us of the annual Araw ng Dabaw Festival, which has become a highly anticipated event. It may not be as grand nor as festive as the Kadayawan Festival, but it has its following from domestic and foreign tourists.
For sports media, this is one of the busiest months of coverage for the entire year alongside August, which is of course due to the Kadayawan.
The Araw sportsfest is usually a venue for athletes here and in other parts of Mindanao, or in other parts of the country, to meet and compete against each other.
Yet, since Davao City began hosting the Ironman 70.3 Davao organized by Sunrise Events, Inc., the Araw sportsfest has gained more prominence among triathletes internationally.
The past two Alveo Ironman 70.3 Davao editions have been such successes that they supposedly had another stint in the city last year. But Covid-19 happened, so it had to be shelved in 2020, and maybe also this year.
The city government of Davao, through the Sports Development Division of the City Mayor's Office (SDD-CMO), often sponsors 25 to 30 sports competitions every year as they partner with different Davao-based national sports associations (NSAs) and other sports clubs.
Most Dabawenyos who have made a name in their respective sports, past and present, have in one way or the other, joined Araw ng Dabaw tournaments in their lifetime. For some, they even marked their sports debut in the Araw.
I remember the bemedaled Tancontian siblings, Sydney and Chino, who both started playing judo as grade-schoolers and they have become world-class sambo athletes now.
The Dizon siblings - Steffi, Andrei, and Jenni, who each made a name in age-group tennis before rising to become junior and collegiate stars; their cousin Juan Paolo Cansino and good friend Ralph Kevin Barte, all were fruits of the Araw netfest.
The Dimakilings of chess - from international master (IM) Oliver Dimakiling (since he's older than I am, I only started chronicling his career in college when he was a UAAP top board player at the De La Salle University) and his younger sister Marie Angeli, who also followed the steps of her kuya with the DLSU chess team.
Chess champions - IM John Marvin Miciano, Fide master (FM) Austin Jacob Literatus, and John Ray Batucan also somehow started their roots in the Araw ng Dabaw sportsfest.
From former swimming sensations - Gonzalez cousins, Jose Joaquin "Joboy" Gonzalez and Anna Celina (who both competed in the Southeast Asian Games); Rodriguez cousins - Carlo and Julianni; Mary Pauline Fornea; and Jose Antonio Mendoza; to current ones still making waves - John Paul Elises, Juliana Marien Villanueva, and the Amoguis sisters, Micah and Lora, among others; Davao never runs short of top tankers because of such events as the Araw sportsfest.
I can list more products of the Araw sportsfest but time is short and it would take me a whole day to account for each by name, as I have been in the sports media for about two decades now.
But one thing for sure though, I miss the action! Especially in the Araw ng Dabaw!