Flores, Dormitorio rule Dirt & Play bikefest

MANILA, Philippines – National riders EJ Flores and Ariana Thea Patrice Dormitorio fashioned out contrasting wins

in ruling the men’s and women’s divisions of the sixth Shimano Dirt and Play cross-country races last Sunday at the challenging Filinvest City dirt course in Alabang, Muntilupa.

Riding for Team BMC, Flores had to dig deep into his bag of tricks in holding off upsetconscious Arnold Marco of the GPC cycling team, negotiating the steep up-and-down and tricky 4.5-kilometer track in one minute, nine seconds flat.

Flores finished 35 seconds ahead of Marco (1:09.35) while Alvin Benosa, who had beaten Flores in another cross-country run the previous day, took third (1:12.20) in the bikefest sponsored by Shimano and backed by 7-Eleven Phils. and Filinvest City.

In contrast, Dormitorio defended her women’s crown easily, topping her three-lap race in 47:01.47, nearly 13 minutes ahead of newcomer Marinela Bonifacio of Team CLAN (59:40.00) while Evelyn Bonifacio wound up a distant third (1:06.35) in the event that drew nearly 1,000 entries in all divisions.

“The course was a bit harder or technical compared to last year, making it more challenging to race,” said Dormitorio, 19, who aspires to compete for the Philippines in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. “Still, it was a fun race for me and I am glad that I still won.”

Also finding the course thrilling to negotiate was businessman Rey Jose, who finished second to Pampanga’s Martin Ace Doneza in the “Megaman” or heavyweight division in 39:40.15 to the latter’s 39:04.34. Florentino Paba took third place (41:36.13).

“It was really a thrill for me to do crosscountry racing again,” Jose, a regular weekend road racer, said. “In fact because of this experience, I might shift to mountain bike racing.” Philippine country manager Jordan Lim of Shimano, the leading global Japanese cycling gear manufacturer, was pleased by the huge turnout and enthusiastic response of the cycling community to the sixth edition of the bike festival.