Track Open in Cebu

Athletics coach John Philip Dueñas looks to organize monthly track tourney

AFTER visiting Davao City as guests in the opening ceremony of the monthly Blue Knight Track Open competition, grassroots coach John Philip Dueñas plans to emulate the event in Cebu.

“A track open in Cebu will be good so we can develop more track athletes. The competitions motivate the athletes to work hard because they have something to look forward to,” said Dueñas, the long-time coach of Olympian marathoner Mary Joy Tabal.

He said that if there’s a monthly track open in Cebu it will be easy to identify the ranking of the athletes. Dueñas and Tabal were in Davao City two weeks ago after getting invited in the monthly Blue Knight Track Open.

“I have talked to the organizers of the track open in Davao City and they’re willing to help if we’re going to do a leg in Cebu,” he said.

Dueñas plans to do it next year for the grassroots kids, who are from the mountainous area of Cebu City. He said that every athlete really needs exposure for them to improve their skills.

He pointed out that for the training of Tabal they logged a total of 150 to 180 hours per year for the base, build, peak trainings and the main competition. “The training time is really needed, especially exposure to competition,” he said.

Dueñas said that to level the playing field in the track open competition he’s planning to divide it to different categories.

Dueñas and Tabal of Motor Ace Philippines are the coach for the grassroots running program of Cebu City Sports Commission (CCSC) which is in partnership with Department of Education (DepEd).