Petron Mabuhay Time Speed Distance Championship review

THE final run of the Petron Mabuhay Time Speed Distance Fun Run was called the Petron Rizal TSD Fun Run. This was held in memory of our national hero Dr. Jose Rizal’s 121st death anniversary. Due to the busy schedules of the holiday season, the Rizal TSD was held last January 14 with a compact but eager group of 30 participants.

Harder TSD format

To create a more exciting and harder event, we included a lot of trivia questions that the participants had to look for the answers in the various historical areas along the route. We went to the Rizal Shrine in front of the Calamba City Hall and the Rizal Museum in the city. After that, we went all the way back to Luneta in Manila for the Rizal Monument and KM 0 road marker for the

A lot of the participants never saw these sites and others faintly remembered them, as they were in elementary when they visited them. This format made for a very rewarding experience and was the best round of the whole series.

Lost in Calamba

While the trip to Calamba City was fairly easy, the exit from SLEX was a little confusing. If you took the wrong one, you end up in Batangas or go straight to the Star Toll. Quite a number of cars took the wrong exit and ended in different locations hopelessly lost.

We manned the Rizal Museum checkpoint and saw 3 cars arrive early. We had to tell them that before checking in at our Time Control. The teams that got lost were Master rallyists Boy Eusebio, Raul Tuason with young navigators Jerald and James Valdez. They were followed by Go Flat Out team leader James Tagle and Two new teams also went astray and they were the teams of Paul/ Jojo Tolentino, Janferds Balois and Patrick Einoj and that of Ed and John La Madrid.

Trivia galore

At Rizal’s Shrine and Museum, we had a long list of questions that needed to be answered. Most of the teams came prepared and they gave the correct answers. However, some committed simple errors like when Rizal was born and the slogan of the 121st anniversary, which was plastered all over the streamers.

The number of children that was sired by the parents of Jose Rizal, Francisco Mercado and Teodora Alonso, was also a common mistake as the teams forgot to include Jose Rizal as one of the children. Everyone got it right with Rizal’s pen names and it was easily seen in the Museum, including the highlights of his 2 popular books, El Filibusterismo and Noli Me Tangere.

The hard parts of the trivia were counting the overhead bridges with kilometer readings, to Calamba. Going to Manila, others failed to count the land bridges and emergency bays in SLEX, which we asked at the start of the return trip.

Rizal winners

The winners of the event were none other than the Reyes family of father/ banker Ray and his children Paula, Justin and Denise. They took 1st place overall and was Family division champion, too.

2nd overall was Team Chevy’s Miguel Laserna and Julie Sumbillo and took the Novice Division win also. 3rd place overall went to Go Flat Out’s Isaac Atienza and Nathaniel Fundan plus 2nd in the Novice Class. 3rd Novice was Tess, Raffy and Rica of the Team Dizonoiks.

Team Dizonoiks got 1st for the Team Awards, with the EusebioTolentino team 2nd and Go Flat Out in 3rd. The Masters Division was won by rallyists Boy Eusebio, Raul Tuason, Jerald and James Valdez. Mon Dizon came in 2nd and Ed La Madrid in 3rd.

2017 overall champions

The inaugural Petron Mabuhay Time Speed Distance Championship was won by the Reyes family also took 1st place in the Family Division. They missed a round since it was the wife’s birthday and

Mini’s Stuart Samson, Alex Angeles and Charles Mondragon came in 2nd overall after they Mabuhay Independence Rally last June 12 and sorely missed on a golden opportunity to win the championship.

3rd place was Chevy’s Miguel Laserna and Julie Sumbillo, overcoming personal problems to take two 2nd places and won the Novice Overall championship as well. 4th overall went to Go Flat Out’s Isaac Atienza and Nathaniel Fundan.

2 teams tied for 5th overall and they were the BCBP Alabang East Teams of Ruel Ramos and Kim Navarro, and the Valdez family of Ting, Bow and Vinci. They won 1 leg to move up.

Team, family, masters and novice champs

After the champion Reyes Family, Family Division 2nd placers went to Team Dizon’s Mon, Tess, Ryan and Raffy Dizon. They were the only team to run in all 4 legs. 3rd place went to BCBP AE’s Ramos/Navarro and 4th to the Valdez family above. Tied for 5th were the Laya Family of Alberto, Myrna and Althea, and the Jimenez family of father Joey and son Julio.

The Novice Division was very tightly contested and Laserna/ Sumbillo taking it by only 3 points over Samson/Angeles/Mondragon. 3rd placers Atienza/Fundan were another 2 points lower. Tied for 4th were Ruel/Kim with Ting/ Bow/Vinci Valdez.

The Masters Division overall winners were Boy Eusebio, Raul Tuason and Jerald/ James Valdez after a superb win in the last leg. Mon Dizon et al came in 2nd and 3rd went to Ting Garcia. Manding Bajacan and Janferds Balois. Ed/ Jon La Madrid came home in 4th.

The surprise Team Champion of 2017 was Team Dizonoiks after taking the perfect score in the last round. They were followed by Go Flat Out while 3rd and 4th places went to the Teams of the Chevy Club Philippines. 5th was again a tie for BCBP AE and Mini Team.

2018 will be big

It was a great start for the Petron Mabuhay Time Speed Distance Championship and it is now becoming a by word for familyoriented fun runs. We hope to have 4- 6 events this year and hold TSD events for other auto clubs, too.

There are also bigger events to be tied up with the government to promote local tourism through our TSD runs. Hopefully, all of these will come true and will be eagerly awaited by the new rally