It's over. See you again next year.

It has been a few days since the 6th EBD Barangay Tour Mountain Bike XC Marathon and I still have to get it out of my system. Admittedly I've been surfing the forums and e-groups fishing asking those who joined for their feedback of the race. And from what I've been hearing and reading, it was a success! Of course I know that next time we really have to beef up on the directional arrows some more and add even more marshals, but generally the race rocked!

In the briefing I told them to get ready to suffer, and suffer they did. What's so cool is they all loved it! They've been talking about how the tackled the grueling 63-kilometer mountainous race course for days - from Dandan's record-breaking finish of only three hours and fifteen minutes to bonked racers eating leaves along the way to participants who refused to ride the sweeper back to the City for the awarding ceremonies in order to be called a finisher. The race was a story full of triumph, drama and comedy on man's will to overcome the odds.

And it didn't just stay online. It spread like wildfire in the bike shops as well. I dropped by All Terra tonight to wait for my wife and Bruce and Dandan were talking about it. Even Edmund's wife, Salve, told me that it really put Batangas on the map. Wow!

Hearing all this really gives me goosebumps. I was so happy that I collected the messages and shared it in the BMB e-group. They were all so happy that they kept reading and re-reading the messages. It didn't stop there. I even got inspired to revamp the BMB website. (Check it out at www.bmb.org.ph and let me know what you think.)

I don't know if I'll still be appointed as race director again next year, but I sure hope I can still help out and make this an even bigger event. These guys need better planning and more coordination with more City Government departments, especially the City Tourism Council. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

For my pictures of the race, click here.