Go For Gold set for Ronda run

Ronda Pilipinas

Go for Gold seeks to hold their own against the rest of the field in the upcoming LBC Ronda Pilipinas 10th anniversary race, which is slated to start on February 23 in Sorsogon and ends on March 4 in the City of Vigan.

Serving as team skipper is Ronnel Hualda, with Daniel Ven Carino, Jonel Carcueva, Ismael Grospe Jr., Jericho Jay Lucero, Marc Ryan Lago, Ronnilan Quita, and Rex Luis Krog completing the team, with Carino, Carcueva, and Grospe tipped to be the ones likely to contend in the individual classification. Each one of them was picked by team management for showing their great potential in the sport.

Go for Gold coach and manager Eds Hualda shares, "The guys have improved since we first took them and while our target is modest this year, I will not be surprised if we will give the favored teams serious challenge."

Even with their participation in the tournament, Hualda maintains that the objective remains the same: to discover, tap, and hone young talents who have the potential to succeed and eventually make the national team. He says, "That has been the goal by Go for Gold since the team was first formed. And we will never stop until we find and make them champions."

Serving as the biggest obstacle to their aspirations is Navy-Standard Insurance, led by its Ronda champions Jan Paul Morales and Ronald Oranza, with three other teams also having former Ronda champions in their respective units (Santy Barnachea with Scratch It, Mark Galedo with 7Eleven Cliqq-Air21 by Roadbike Philippines, and Reimon Lapaza with Celeste Cycles-Del Project Pro Team).

Completing the field are Army-Bicycology, Bike Xtreme, Tarlac/Central Luzon, Ilocos Sur, South Luzon/Batangas, and Nueva Ecija.

Ronda Pilipinas is presented by LBC and supported by the Manny V. Pangilinan Sports Foundation, with the likes of Versa, 8A Performance, Print2Go, Petron, Green Planet, Bike Xtreme, Standard Insurance, Spyder, CCN, Lightwater, Prolite, Guerciotti, Black Mamba, Boy Kanin, Vitamin Boost, NLEX/SCTEX, Maynilad, 3Q Sports Event Management Inc., LBC Foundation and PhilCycling also lending their support.