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MANILA – The Integrated Cycling Federation of the Philippines (PhilCycling) has to call off its plans to hold the national cycling championships over the midyear due to the recent spike in Covid-19 cases.
Although PhilCycling initially scheduled the national championships for road bikes from May 5-8 in Subic Bay and for mountain bikes and BMX in June in Tagaytay, the rise in daily infections that even saw the Department of Health confirming 5,000 new cases twice over the past week prompted the Bambol Tolentino-led national sports association to postpone everything for the meantime.
“The priority is always the health and safety of everyone—cyclists, officials and fans,” Tolentino, also the president of the Philippine Olympic Committee, said. “No questions asked.”
He added that the postponement will be in place “until the pandemic is contained.”
The holding of the PhilCycling national championship has been in the works since January as the national sports association is looking at the possibility of holding the events in a bubble setup in adherence to the joint administrative order put up for professional sports.
PhilCycling even wrote a letter to the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases requesting for the tournaments to push through.
The national championships are part of the selection for the national cycling team for the 2021 Southeast Asian Games in Hanoi. (PNA)
