Former UST standout Cruz brings cycling to his hometown

Cyclists passed by a rice field in the last Larga Pilipinas hosted by Guimba. —CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

Former UAAP and PBA standout Jervy Cruz could have chosen to build a sports project for his hometown of Nampicuan in Nueva Ecija around basketball, the sport where he earned a decent living and made enough of a name for himself to win a councilor’s post.

But there was something inescapable about the small town he grew up in

“Cycling is a big thing here,” Cruz said of the municipality that used to be just one of the barrios of nearby Cuyapo and whose name, quite interestingly, is supposed to have been derived from the phrase “curved road.”

“Every now and then, there’ll be races here and we’re used to having races pass on our roads,” the former UST big man and Rain or Shine forward said. “Races from neighbors like Cuyapo and Guimba pass here, too.”

So it was no surprise that Cruz batted for his town to host the Solid North Larga Pilipinas, which gets going Nov 29 and 30. He had seen the success of the race of the last Larga Piliinas and pitched the idea to Mayor Mario Lacurom.

“We saw the race in Guimba and there were 11,000 participants,” he said. “So I told the mayor that I know the organizer and immediately made calls.”

Cruz bared that in his term as councilor, he has focused more on sports, youth and peace and order in Nampicuan, utilizing the discipline he learned playing basketball and under coaches Yeng Guiao and Tim Cone, who he played for during a stint with Barangay Ginebra.

He believes that after him, there will be more athletes emerging from his town.

“I wouldn’t want to be the last athlete from Nampicuan. SO we are doing our best to discover young talents that will bring pride to our town,” Cruz said.

Cruz said that apart from the free races for cyclists who will compete in 13 categories of the Larga Pilipinas, they will also give away a few units of Yamaha PG-1 to lucky participants during the two-day, two-stage races.

For those interested to join, register at https://largapilipinas.com/larga-pilipinas-registration/. INQUIRER SPORTS DESK