At the New York City Marathon finish at Central Park: Yong and Donna Larrazabal and Phia and Peter Mancao
Month: October 2008
Peter Mancao: The Heart Surgeon With A Heart
One act of kindness that I will never forget happened last February 17. Together with 13 others from Cebu, I joined the Hong Kong Marathon. After the starting gun fired at 6:45 in the morning, off we jogged, traversing the asphalted roads, climbing bridges, crawling under the tunnels when, suddenly at Km. 28, both my legs cramped and, worse, I had intolerable pain at the sides of my knees. I winced in distress, walked crippled, felt like my knees had been hammered by a baseball bat.
Dr. Peter Mancao passed-by. While I asked that he proceed, he stopped, asked for liniment, rubbed it on my knees, asked for cold sponges and smothered those on my injured legs. For the next several kilometers—like a good doctor would accompany an ailing patient—Dr. Mancao did the same. And, it wasn’t until the 35th km. while under the Western Harbour Tunnel when I sat tortured by the knee pain, that I forced him to run. Reluctantly, he did.
I didn’t finish the Hong Kong Marathon—but that act of kindness I will forever remember: For here was one of Cebu’s top heart surgeons (and the man who organizes the Run For Your Heart races) who runs with a kind heart.
As Greg slaughters, UV marches to No.8 this ‘08
He is the Burj Dubai, the world’s tallest skyscraper. The Empire State Building. He’s Taipei 101. He’s the Marco Polo Hotel of Cebu basketball who is statuesque and overlooking while the rest of the buildings sit below his monstrous shadow.
Last Thursday night at the Cebu Coliseum and together with 10,000 standing-room-only fans, I watched Game 1 of the UV vs. USJ-R Cesafi finals.
One behemoth dominated. No, sorry, he didn’t dominate—he lorded. On this game where you shoot at the 10-foot-tall ring, his nearly 7-foot-tall frame—plus those outstretched hands that would dwarf Michael Phelps’—he reigned supreme. He lorded tall in the forest like a towering giraffe looking down at the jaguars. And, by jaguars, yes, I mean the USJ-R Jaguars.
Trying to be No.1 at Tri, that’s Noy Jopson
I’ve dribbled a basketball, putted on a golf course, swam 25-meter laps, flicked my wrist in badminton, ran 10-Ks along Osmeña Blvd., swung volleys in tennis and mountain-biked to Tops, but the one sport that I have yet to try is…. Tri.
Yes, tri. As in, three. Triathlon is it’s full name and, if one speaks of one of the most backbreaking of endeavors—think of the Ironman and it’s 3.8-km. swim, 180-K bike, and 42-km. run—then you’ve got to try… Tri.
Here in Cebu, when “triathlon” is muttered, one name above all enters my mind: Noy Jopson.