Oslob revisited

Part of my childhood was spent on a sleepy southern town 120 or so kilometers away from the city, and that was 40 years ago. My younger brother Rene and I used to go to Oslob Fridays after classes and spend the weekend there with my late uncle, Fr. Jose Motus, who was the town’s parish priest then.

We learned to ride the bike on the church grounds and liked the large number of sheep, goats, pigs, chickens and turkeys that our Uncle Jose had at the convent’s backyard. We wake up to an exotic smell of animal dung, then take a dip in the sea and picked shells and avoided the numerous 'tuyoms' on the beach facing the convent when hunas ( low tide) came on late afternoons.

My memory of the convent was huge with four large rooms, had an enormous sala and an equally massive comedor and spacious kitchen. There was a TV in my uncle’s room but it was like watching shows under choppy waters because of poor reception and radios get their signals from Dumaguete. No VCRs and cable TV then. Sleep came early at night as we’re so tired of the day’s action. What was left when we got there last weekend were the skeletal remains of the convent as fire ate it up about three, four years ago. What a waste.

Fast forward to the present. Oslob is still half awake that Manila Memorial Park is much livelier, but for two days last weekend, the town arose from their slumber and witnessed their first- ever triathlon event, the Hunat Sugbu Triathlon Series organized by Parklane International Hotel and directed by Sugbo Tri. It gathered more than 400 triathletes that included Cebu’s contribution to the National Youth Tri Team, the Chiongbian siblings Justin and Yuan.

My son Emil was entered on the sprint distance – 750m swim, 20km bike and 5k run. This is his third triathlon as he first started this logic-defying sport in March of this year, joining the XTerra Tri Series, following it up with another event at Jagna, Bohol last May.

It was a beautiful Sunday morning but the seas of Oslob prepared 3 to 5-foot waves for the swimmers to battle which greatly affected their times and likewise contributed to the slower overall times of the top athletes. A good number of them were actually holding on to the ropes marking the swim route because of the rough seas.

The bike leg is almost devoid of traffic as this part of Cebu is dominated by Ceres and Sun Rays buses travelling by the hour. The event increased Oslob’s vehicle population maybe by at least 50 cars for two days. A woman driver cut on Emil’s path and by swerving hard to the left, he hit something sharp on the road which damaged his rear tire. Thankfully, the tire gave up after the race, jolting us with a loud pop while we were having some lunch.

We’re very thankful to Noy Jopson for his unselfishness in loaning us a road bike as Emil was supposed to use his mountain bike on this race. We brought his MTB to Noy’s shop, The Brick at J Center Mall (free plug na pud), for some tune ups and upon learning that Emil will be joining the Oslob race, offered the yellow Scott road bike that elite Cebu-based triathlete Joseph Miller used. Appreciated the really kind gesture, Noy.

Being an MTB user and with only three days to have a feel on a road bike, Emil had cramps on both legs as he’s not used the O-symetric bandehado- shaped rings which targets a different muscle group when pedaling. He was 26 minutes off his 1:33 time in Bohol as he was walking in some parts of the run leg because of cramps.

The people of Oslob were gracious and good hosts. It is very obvious on their faces that they are happy and excited to host a big and different sporting event. If not for the distance, the place is a great venue for ecoadventure races with the seas and mountains almost within kissing distance of each other. Their heritage park is a very good staging area. But no matter where, if logistics are aplenty, events and entrants will come. And yes, the butanding is just 8 kilometers away.

*** The father famously said, “The Filipino is worth Dying for.” The son could be saying, “The Filipino is worth Lying for.” With the Lacierdas, Carandangs and other like species as borderline credible mouthpieces, people are opt to conclude that the Malacañang tenant is a liar. Go figure.