Puerto Princesa asserts sports tourism capital tag in FIM Moto meet

Being hailed as one of the Philippines’ top tourist destinations has not stopped Puerto Princesa City from exploring other ways to showcase its flora and fauna to nature lovers and other potential visitors. In recent years, Puerto Princesa has taken the initiative to channel its efforts in promoting its sights, natural and historical through sports tourism.

The city which earned the monicker “the country’s last frontier” has successfully hosted both local and international sporting events in the past, most prominent of which are: the BIMP-EAGA (Brunei-Indonesia-Malaysia- Philippines – East ASEAN Growth Area) Games in 2003, the National Youth and Women’s Amateur Boxing Championship, the MIMAROPA (Mindoro Oriental and Occidental-Marinduque-Romblon-Palawan) Regional Athletic Association Games, the International Invitational Sepak Takraw Championships and the best-ever attended motorsports event in Philippine sports history, the FIM-UAM Asia Pacific Motocross Championships.

Next month, Puerto Princesa will take its achievements in the sports tourism realm to greater heights when its hosts for the third year in a row the 2006 Motocross Masters of Asia, Round 2 of the FIM-UAM Asia Pacific Motocross Championship slated at the Puerto Princesa City motocross racetrack adjacent near the City Hall on March 16-19.

With no less than the city’s CEO Mayor Edward S. Hagedorn and the City Administrator Agustin Rocamora presiding over the preparations, the event promises to be another blockbuster and is expected to surpass the success of its 2004 and 2005 versions where over 70,000 spectators showed up. Up for grabs anew in the centerpiece 125cc class is the Mayor Edward S. Hagedorn Cup, a sterling silver trophy coming from the city’s chief executive and his constituents.

Considered as the biggest motocross series in the Asia Pacific region, the event will be participated in by riders from China, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Sri Lanka, India, Japan, Guam, Saipan, Australia, New Zealand and the Philippines and will be covered and telecast by the ESPN Star TV Networks to an estimated 400 million households worldwide.

With barely five weeks before the Motocross Masters of Asia, the Filipino riders competing in the event will have the first of two tune-up races next weekend when the 2005 NAMSSA Camel International Supercross Championships stages its opening round in Bacolod City on February 17-19. Round 2 is slated in Iloilo City two weeks hence on March 2-5.

The 2006 Motocross Masters of Asia is being organized by the NAMSSA and supported by the City of Puerto Princesa, the Philippine Sports Commission, motorcyclephilippines.com and Inside Racing magazine. For details on the Motocross Masters of Asia and the Camel International Supercross Series, please email [email protected] or call 0917-8992363.

Source: namssa.org