SUNSHINE Vallejos Mendoza successfully hurdled the recent International Cycling Union National Commissaires Course for Road to become the Philippines’ first female commisssaire for the discipline.
Also passing the course organized by the Singapore Cycling Federation from May 18 to 21 at the Singapore Sports Hub was Franklin Gonzales of Kapatagan, Lanao del Norte.
Mendoza is the project director of the Le Tour de Filipinas (LTdF), the only multi-stage road race in the Philippines on the UCI Asia Tour calendar that will hold its ninth edition in February next year. Gonzales, on the other hand, worked as assistant commissaire in the eight editions of the LTdF.
“It’s a major responsibility to become a UCI National Commissaire and we are bound by regulations,” Mendoza said. “I will do my best to carry out that responsibility for the development of road cycling in the Philippines.”
UCI International Commissaire (IC) for Road Navaratnaraja Karunaratna of Sri Lanka supervised the course which drew 12 participants from Singapore, Malaysia, New Zealand and the Philippines. The course included lectures and wrapped up with written, oral and practical examinations during the Singapore National Road Championships.
Mendoza and Gonzales’s participation in the Level 2 course was endorsed by PhilCycling President Tagaytay Rep. Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino and Chairman Alberto Lina and supported by LTdF organizer Donna Lina, president of Ube Media.
The two new UCI commissaries joined the country’s pool of road commissaries that include IC Jose Adolfo “Ding” Cruz, Elite National Commissaire Jun Lomibao and National Commissaire Carlos Gredonia.