ADVERTISEMENT
Manila Bulletin devider Sports devider Go for Gold junior riders brace for Tour de DMZ

Go for Gold junior riders brace for Tour de DMZ

Published Aug 30, 2023 05:41 am

At A Glance

  • Tapping the finest junior riders in the country, the Go For Gold Cycling Team will carry the national colors in the famed Tour de DMZ International Road Cycling in South Korea.

Tapping the finest junior riders in the country, the Go For Gold Cycling Team will carry the national colors in the famed Tour de DMZ International Road Cycling in South Korea.

371093530_847795990072259_1304507317601135201_n.jpg
Laguna’s Kien Ebojo, John Arwin Velasco of Batangas, Cebu’s Samstill Mamites, Nueva Ecija’s John Paul Escubine, Justhene Navaluna and Mac BJ Arellano from Ilocos will race against the best riders in the world their age in the five-stage, 532-kilometer bikathon on the fringes of the Korean border.


Laguna’s Kien Ebojo, John Arwin Velasco of Batangas, Cebu’s Samstill Mamites, Nueva Ecija’s John Paul Escubine, Justhene Navaluna and Mac BJ Arellano from Ilocos will race against the best riders in the world their age in the five-stage, 532-kilometer bikathon on the fringes of the Korean border.


Go For Gold is adopting a similar program for these young cyclists following the success of 17-year-old mountain bike (MTB) cyclist John Andre Aguja, who already ruled two international races—the 2023 Thailand Mountain Bike Cup and the 2023 Coupe de Japon MTB Yawatahama in Japan.


``We have proven that in our MTB teams, where we won several gold medals. We are bringing the same program to road racing and hopefully we can also reap success,’’ said Go For Gold founder Jeremy Go.


The eight-man Philippine squad left for Ganghwa late Tuesday afternoon, three days before the multi-stage race kicks off Friday.


Aside from winning a number of Union Cycliste Internationale junior MTB races recently, Go For Gold riders consistently finished on the podium in Southeast Asian meets.


The sixth edition of the Tour de DMZ, a Men Junior Nations Cup sanctioned by the UCI, will have the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) as backdrop that serves as the border of the two Koreas.


The race likewise commemorates the 70th anniversary of the Korean War Armistice with the theme ``70 years of DMZ, Beyond the Border into the Future.’’


``We would like to thank PhilCycling and POC president Abraham ``Bambol’’ Tolentino and PhilCycling secretary general Atty. Billy Sumagui for their continuous support to our developmental program,’’ said Go.


``We welcome junior riders from all over the Philippines as part of our program because we believe that hidden gems can be found anywhere,’’ added Go.


Go For Gold, the sports scratch card brand of Scratchit under Powerball Marketing and Logistics Corporation, is a strong advocate of supporting Filipino athletes who have the potential to excel internationally.


Apart from cycling, the Go For Gold program has supported athletes in triathlon, sepak takraw, wrestling, dragonboat, skateboarding, chess, basketball, volleyball and wrestling, among others.


Go is confident that the six Filipino junior riders possess the skills and talent in sprints and can conquer grueling climbs.


One of the challenges that Go sees is their ability to acclimatize to the Korean weather at this time, which is around 22-23 degrees Celsius.


``The weather is like Baguio, so I am hoping it won’t be that much of a problem. Although based on our scouting, it has been raining there. We have three days to prepare though,’’ said Go.

ADVERTISEMENT
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1561_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1562_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1563_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}

{{ articles_filter_1564_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.mb-article-details { position: relative; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview, .mb-article-details .article-body-summary{ font-size: 17px; line-height: 30px; font-family: "Libre Caslon Text", serif; color: #000; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview iframe , .mb-article-details .article-body-summary iframe{ width: 100%; margin: auto; } .read-more-background { background: linear-gradient(180deg, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0) 13.75%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0.8) 30.79%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000) 72.5%); position: absolute; height: 200px; width: 100%; bottom: 0; display: flex; justify-content: center; align-items: center; padding: 0; } .read-more-background a{ color: #000; } .read-more-btn { padding: 17px 45px; font-family: Inter; font-weight: 700; font-size: 18px; line-height: 16px; text-align: center; vertical-align: middle; border: 1px solid black; background-color: white; } .hidden { display: none; }
function initializeAllSwipers() { // Get all hidden inputs with cms_article_id document.querySelectorAll('[id^="cms_article_id_"]').forEach(function (input) { const cmsArticleId = input.value; const articleSelector = '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .body_images'; const swiperElement = document.querySelector(articleSelector); if (swiperElement && !swiperElement.classList.contains('swiper-initialized')) { new Swiper(articleSelector, { loop: true, pagination: false, navigation: { nextEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-next', prevEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-prev', }, }); } }); } setTimeout(initializeAllSwipers, 3000); const intersectionObserver = new IntersectionObserver( (entries) => { entries.forEach((entry) => { if (entry.isIntersecting) { const newUrl = entry.target.getAttribute("data-url"); if (newUrl) { history.pushState(null, null, newUrl); let article = entry.target; // Extract metadata const author = article.querySelector('.author-section').textContent.replace('By', '').trim(); const section = article.querySelector('.section-info ').textContent.replace(' ', ' '); const title = article.querySelector('.article-title h1').textContent; // Parse URL for Chartbeat path format const parsedUrl = new URL(newUrl, window.location.origin); const cleanUrl = parsedUrl.host + parsedUrl.pathname; // Update Chartbeat configuration if (typeof window._sf_async_config !== 'undefined') { window._sf_async_config.path = cleanUrl; window._sf_async_config.sections = section; window._sf_async_config.authors = author; } // Track virtual page view with Chartbeat if (typeof pSUPERFLY !== 'undefined' && typeof pSUPERFLY.virtualPage === 'function') { try { pSUPERFLY.virtualPage({ path: cleanUrl, title: title, sections: section, authors: author }); } catch (error) { console.error('ping error', error); } } // Optional: Update document title if (title && title !== document.title) { document.title = title; } } } }); }, { threshold: 0.1 } ); function showArticleBody(button) { const article = button.closest("article"); const summary = article.querySelector(".article-body-summary"); const body = article.querySelector(".article-body-preview"); const readMoreSection = article.querySelector(".read-more-background"); // Hide summary and read-more section summary.style.display = "none"; readMoreSection.style.display = "none"; // Show the full article body body.classList.remove("hidden"); } document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", () => { let loadCount = 0; // Track how many times articles are loaded const offset = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]; // Offset values const currentUrl = window.location.pathname.substring(1); let isLoading = false; // Prevent multiple calls if (!currentUrl) { console.log("Current URL is invalid."); return; } const sentinel = document.getElementById("load-more-sentinel"); if (!sentinel) { console.log("Sentinel element not found."); return; } function isSentinelVisible() { const rect = sentinel.getBoundingClientRect(); return ( rect.top < window.innerHeight && rect.bottom >= 0 ); } function onScroll() { if (isLoading) return; if (isSentinelVisible()) { if (loadCount >= offset.length) { console.log("Maximum load attempts reached."); window.removeEventListener("scroll", onScroll); return; } isLoading = true; const currentOffset = offset[loadCount]; window.loadMoreItems().then(() => { let article = document.querySelector('#widget_1690 > div:nth-last-of-type(2) article'); intersectionObserver.observe(article) loadCount++; }).catch(error => { console.error("Error loading more items:", error); }).finally(() => { isLoading = false; }); } } window.addEventListener("scroll", onScroll); });
Join Our Newsletters

Sign up by email to receive news.

© 2025 Manila Bulletin The Nation's Leading Newspaper. All Rights Reserved.