Food delivery rider aboard cheap bike resets national cycling mark
TAGAYTAY City—Zedrick Ivan Honorica, who pedals for Food Panda to make a living, just did something grand with his cheap bike on Sunday.
Riding the same P2,500 bike that he just upgraded with P12,000 wheels, the 21-year-old from Marikina shattered a 20-year-old national record in the Asian Cycling Confederation Track and Para Track Cycling championships at Tagaytay CT Velodrome, where para rider Patrick Gerard Lee finally snared a medal for the country.
Honorica’s effort highlighted a good day for the Philippines and put in focus a bike that pales in comparison to the equipment being used by other elite riders in the field, some of them reportedly worth more than P7 million.
He clocked 10.865 seconds, handily erasing the 11.42 standard Jan Paul Morales, also a Marikina native, had set during the 2006 Asian Games in Doha, Qatar.
“I wasn’t aware of the national record,” Honorica, who actually finished second-to-last in a 22-man field dominated by Japan’s Kaiya Ota in 9.348 seconds, said. “But I know JPM (Morales). But he doesn’t know me.”
Lee, meanwhile, put the host country on the medal board with his bronze in the men’s C5 scratch race of paracycling.
He earned points for qualification to the Los Angeles 2028 Paralympics after winning the country’s first medal in the annual championships hosted by PhilCycling and Tagaytay City, which is actually the first continental exposure of the national para cycling team.
“I pushed and pushed myself, it’s a very tough race,” said Lee, 21, who lost his right forearm from under the elbow in a meat grinder at his aunt’s stall at Marilao Market when he was five years old.
“I’m really very happy because it’s for our country,” added Lee, who’s set to race again on the last day, Wednesday of the championships, supported by Tagaytay City Mayor Brent Tolentino, the Philippine Sports Commission, Philippine Olympic Committee, MVP Sports Foundation, Sports Plus PH, Toyota and Peak.
Uzbekistan’s Azimbek Abdullaev won the gold medal and Japan’s Ruito Kameda secured the silver via a photo finish.
