Inspiring Filipino paratriathletes

I am writing this piece the day before I leave for Legazpi City in Albay for the ASTC Asian Paratriathlon Championships and the Mt. Mayon ASTC Triathlon Asian Cup.

By the time you get to read this, both events should be over as the first race is scheduled on August 10 while the second one is set on August 12.

My involvement actually is more with the Asian Paratri event because of my designation as the Chairman of the Philippine Paratriathlon Committee or PPTC, something I dwelt on in my very first column piece in this paper and we are sending three paratriathletes — the blind twins, Joshua and Jerome Nelmida who both just turned 18 years old, and Cebu-based Alex Silverio, who has a chance for a podium finish in his category. He lost his entire left arm in an accident when he was younger, and in the case of the twins, they were born blind.

A triathlon by itself is a difficult one even for regular athletes so what more for those with physical disabilities as in the case of our national team members. It is compounded by the fact that we do not enjoy as yet any regular funding support from the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) as the agency’s stand is that our paratriathletes have to show a good performance first before they can be accredited with the PSC.

I cannot argue with that though it makes it more difficult to convince PWDs to engage in sports if they will train on their own without support from anyone. This is why we had to ensure the participation of our national paratriathletes in the Asian championships and hopefully, they deliver that the PSC will recognize them already and start receiving allowances and other forms of support.

So we had to do our own fundraising to enable the twins and Alex to compete in Legazpi, and  I started it off with my own little contribution and made an appeal to friends, batchmates and clients. The response was heartwarming as we raised enough funds to take care of the hotel expenses not only of the blind twins but also their two guides and mother, being still minors, and for Alex and his handler, we will also give them daily cash allowances to cover their food expenses, even grant P2,000 per month to Alex who is his family’s breadwinner in Cebu, at least until December this year.

For the twins, Rockstar triathlete Reujen Lista, who also appealed to personal friends, arranged for the free use of the twins of the Vermosa Sports Hub in Cavite, saving the parents P4,000 a month. The PSC, bless their heart, also provided plane tickets for the team, the guides and the mother of the twins.

People whom I have not seen for a long time got in touch with me and sent personal contributions, and I just would like to acknowledge them as a way of saying thank you. Those who helped were Alberto Almedralejo, Alex Wang, Bernard Maglaque, my son JM, Glenn Argate, Dilip Budhrani, Shan Bonmmiah, Mike Advani, William Tan, Nino Sinco, Nida Sembrano, Boy Samsin, Sari razon, Silvie Cinco, Michael Yulo, Vito Orcullo, Ning Asuncion, Ricky Halasan, Rod Sollesta and F@ Logistics president Efren Uy, plus some anonymous donors.

I brought the blind twins to the office of Efren to pay a courtesy call and express their personal thanks to one of their benefactors, and Efren was so amazed at what the twins have managed to do despite their disabilities. They can sing, play the piano, even take photographs would you believe, aside from doing triathlon events, thanks to their two guides Teddy Diaz and Bernard Cruz.

And when Efren learned that the twins, who are also volleyball fans with favorite players among the F2 champion women’s volleyball team, were about to celebrate their 18th birthday, he promised to give a personal cash gift to the two, and he did. Efren and all those other people who helped us in raising the funds, are the reasons why  I am continuing my involvement with the sport, knowing it is also difficult to get corporate sponsors for athletes with disabilities unless  as a CSR programs of companies.

I also got the opportunity to meet Legazpi Mayor Noel Rosal recently  and  he is excited about seeing for the first time a paratriathlon race, promising us that he will have school children go and watch the event. He has also involved the city’s own PWDs in the event as volunteers. The good Mayor has chosen sports tourism as among his major programs for Legazpi, and in fact, the Mt. Mayon ASTC Asian Triathlon Cup is on its fifth year though as a point earning Asia Cup race, it is only on its second year.

So how do I see our race in Legazpi?

We attracted five countries including the Philippines, these  were Japan, with the biggest contingent in the 25-man field, China, Korea, and Kyrgistan, and I expect the Japanese who enjoy a big advantage in terms of technical equipment and regular funding back home, to dominate the different categories to be contested.

I just hope Alex can squeeze himself into a podium finish, but whatever the results may be for our paratriathletes, I take pride in the fact that they have shown what they  are capable of doing and  serve as inspirations to other people, even those  who are not PWDs.