MANGALDAN, Pangasinan -- The latest Le Tour de Filipinas overall champion El Joshua Cariño has encouraged the young people to engage in any kind of sports.
Cariño, in a phone interview with the Philippine News Agency (PNA) Monday, admitted that cycling has impacted his life positively “hence it can do so to other youth, any kind of sports would”.
“I was able to avoid vices and it took me to places I wanted to go without spending huge sum of money or without spending anything at all,” he said.
He said that because of cycling, he was recruited in the Philippine Navy in 2014, serving the country for almost four years now alongside doing his beloved sports.
“We compete representing the Philippine Navy Insurance, so when I am not on duty, I join tournaments or when I join tournaments, I am not on duty,” he said.
The 25- year old cycling champ started liking the sports since he was 15, due to the influence of his own relatives, Ruben and Samson Cariño, who were also champions in the same sports, specifically in the 1984 Marlboro Tour and 1975 Picca Tour, respectively.
The Cariño clan hails from this town, which is now known as the hometown of cycling champions, where two-time Tour of Luzon champ Jesus Garcia Jr. also resides.
Prior to his latest achievement in the ninth Le Tour de Filipinas, Cariño has been a constant winner in the prestigious Ronda Pilipinas and other national and local tournaments in the country.
“Le Tour de Filipinas is my first international competition, so I am very happy,” he said.
Cariño bested a number of foreign and local cyclists from 16 countries in the four- day tournament, which traversed from Quezon City to Nueva Ecija to Nueva Vizcaya to Pangasinan and finally to Baguio City from May 20 to 23.
He disclosed that he is now preparing for the upcoming ASEAN Games in Jakarta, Indonesia as he is one of the possible representatives of the country.
He, however, appealed to the local government here to support the cyclists from this town, while he thanked the provincial government of Pangasinan for its help to the cyclists and promotion of the said sports. (PNA)
