Atty. Geruncio 'Gerry' Lacuesta, Father of Philippine Cycling

Atty. Geruncio 'Gerry' Lacuesta,  Father of Philippine Cycling


Geruncio 'Gerry' Lacuesta was born in Barangay Hermoza, Bayambang.

Lacuesta is acknowledged as the father of Philippine cycling or bikathoning.

In 1955, as a local cycling association president, Atty. Geruncio Lacuesta organized the very first national multi-stage cycling event, the four-day Manila-Vigan-Manila bikathon.  

In 1965, Lacuesta held another such event and called it “Tour of Luzon,” a seven-day bikefest that was to become an annual summer spectacle.

Townsfolk lined the streets in thick crowds just to witness this event, which whizzed passed their eyes in split seconds, it seemed. Crowds broke into a series of loud cheers as the first and last cyclist appeared from the horizon and quickly faded away.

Lacuesta was described as a "profound, great organizer and visionary." He was instrumental in making national cycling heroes of such Pangasinan cyclists as Rufino Gabot, Mamerto Eden, Edmundo de Guzman, and the singing cyclist-columnist Jesus Garcia Jr., among several local cyclists who eventually made a name for themselves.

Bayambang, being the birthplace of Lacuesta, was usually the last lap before the final stage at the Rizal Memorial Stadium. His obsession with the sport resulted in the construction of a cycling oval he called Velodrome in Brgy. Bical, Bayambang, to train local cyclists to become world-class. Velodrome is said to be the first of its kind in the country at the time.

Aside from the Tour of Luzon, Atty. Lacuesta organized four regional races around the country. It featured not only the best local racers but also the top cyclists of the nation which delighted the local fans. Throughout 1960, Lacuesta staged the Tour of Cagayan Valley-Central Luzon (Nueva Viscaya and Nueva Ecija regions) in January, Tour of Bicolandia in February, Tour of Cebu and Tour of Mindanao in the month of March. Atty Lacuesta successfully brought the Tour nearer to the ordinary townsfolk and that was why probably the Tour of Luzon, the main race, was a very successful event through the years. All of these races were sponsored by San Miguel Brewery who was the authorized bottler of Coca Cola in the country. DZMT, the radio station of Manila Times, also reported the progress of the race at every hour from start to finish. And the major dailies, Manila Times, Manila Chronicle, Philippines Herald reported the races daily.
 

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Lacuesta was also a writer, "a lucid and brilliant writer," according to fellow mediaman Jun Velasco.

He had works published in Manila’s dailies, and was the publisher and editor of the Katas news-magazine, a Philippine version of the Readers Digest in the Filipino language.

On February 15, 1970, Atty. Geruncio Lacuesta published the first community paper of Bayambang, the “Bayambang-Bautista Post,” which later became "Bayambang Post."

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Says one account: "An analytic organizer, he was able to wangle a contract with Bayambang government to manage the town’s controversial Mangabul fisheries with then Mayor Jaime Junio providing full support. But all was not well then, because some owners of Mangabul were oppositors to the contract that resulted in the filing of court cases."

"One day in 1982, Lacuesta had just left the local court when an able-bodied assailant swooped down and killed him. The James Bond attaché case that we earlier gifted him was thrown off including vital documents."

(Sangguniang Bayan Secretary Joel V Camacho once related how gruesome the act of murder was, as he personally witnessed the body of Lacuesta lying inside the Municipal Hall's adjoining Rural Health Unit. His throat was reportedly split open.)

The 1st Atty. Gerry Lacuesta Memorial Cup Challenge (Gerry Lacuesta Cup), a cycling race in honor of the Father of Cycling in the Philippines, was staged by the Bayambang municipal government under Mayor Ricardo Camacho on March 16, 2014 as part of the town’s 400th founding anniversary celebration.

In 2021, he was awarded by the local government of Bayambang under Mayor Cezar T. Quiambao with its highest honor, the Matalunggaring Award.

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Text lifted from various Internet sources:

- https://www.facebook.com/groups/philcyclinghistory/permalink/1713475142123497/
- https://www.facebook.com/groups/524877320983291/?multi_permalinks=1713475142123497&ref=share
- https://lawphil.net/judjuris/juri1984/aug1984/gr_l58794_1984.html
- https://lawyerly.ph/digest/c670b?user=6099
- https://punch.dagupan.com/opinion/sports-eye/2023/02/do-i-know-pangasinans-cycling-history/
- https://dwaentertainment.com/2023/11/15/buhay-siklista/
- https://punch.dagupan.com/opinion/2016/03/sports-eye-459/