IF everything falls into place, the riders from the Philippine Navy-Standard Insurance team should deliver the gold in the 31st Southeast Asian Games in Vietnam in November.
“They’ve been training for two months. They will be very competitive,” Standard Insurance Group Chairman Ernesto “Judes” Echauz told Tuesday’s online Philippine Sportswriters Association Forum.
Echauz has been supporting cycling and duathlon through the years and has formed a star-studded team made up of enlisted Navy personnel and employees of his giant insurance company.
For this year’s SEA Games from November 21 to December 2, he expects at least 10 of his riders to be part of the national team that will compete in eight events in road races and two events in duathlon.
The top riders under Echauz’s stable include male cyclists Ronald Oranza, Jan Paul Morales, Emmanuel Comendador, George Oconer and Junrey Navarra and female riders Jermyn Prado, Kate Velasco, Mathilda Krogg and Marriane Grace Dacumos.
Echauz told the forum presented by San Miguel Corp., Go For Gold, Milo, Amelie Hotel Manila, Braska Restaurant and the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. that his riders are “fully-equipped.”
Echauz, who also heads the Philippine Sailing Association, said the male riders have been training in Naic, Cavite, for two months, while the female athletes are based in Subic.
“In Naic, we have a building with 14 rooms, with a swimming pool and a gym that is comparable to the top gyms here in Manila. The place is very conducive to training,” he said in the forum powered by Smart and with Upstream Media as official webcast partner.
The Philippines won three gold medals, including Prado in women’s individual time trial, on top of four silvers and four bronzes in cycling in the 2019 SEA Games.