For now, staging a physical race won’t be possible. But a virtual one will be.
And this is what organizers of the largest cycling festival in the Philippines will do later this year.
Allan Tumbaga, senior vice president and chief customer marketing officer of PRU Life Philippines said they will hold an online cycling event by November.
He discussed their plans to stage virtual cycling activities yesterday at the weekly online session of the Philippine Sportswriters Association Forum, with assistant vice president for brandand advertising, Khalil Robles.
They were supposed to hold the PRURide PH in Clark, Pampanga from March 11 to 15 early this year.
But lockdowns that were implemented by the government to control the spread of the coronavirus pandemic forced them to cancel.
As a result they will do their races online, with the virtual race that was held in London last August as their model.
“Hopefully, next year, physical na. Importante pa rin ang health and safety ng mga cyclist,” said Tumbaga.
As mass gatherings will be impossible this year, participants can register and join through Pulse, a first-of-its-kind health app that provides 24/7 real-time health information
PRURide PH was first staged by Pru Life UK in 2016 to engage the growing cycling community in the Philippines.
And this was done to raise awareness on cycling as a sustainable alternative mode of transport.
Robles said they will make efforts to find out they can have their races sanctioned again by UCI and PhilCycling.
PRU Ride PH was inspired by Prudential RideLondon, the largest global cycling event sponsored by the life insurer’s parent company, global financial services giant Prudential plc.
When the virtual cycling festival was held in London, participants used the My Prudential RideLondon app.
With the app, cyclists around the world were able to calculate their speed and track their distances based on the actual routes in the United Kingdom capital.
Successful participants received digital certificates to celebrate their achievements.
