Sports

A very inspiring story that anyone should not miss to read!

WATCH the Official video of Coach Rio as he competes against hundreds of participants.

 

Safeguard Active sponsored an innovative running event called #BeatCoachRio last June 5, 2012 held at the back of Terra 28th Park in Bonifacio Global City. This was a very rare event where participants had an oppotunity to compete with one of the most popular personalities in Philippine sports--Coach Rio Dela Cruz. A huge crowd of athletes ran against the video of Coach Rio which was flashed on the LED Billboard parallel to the participants.

#CoachRio is a three-time UAAP Champion and a world-class running maestro. Coach Rio holds a record of 2.3 seconds for the 20-meter dash. The current record of #CoachRio didn't intimidate hundreds of amateur athletes.

If Manny Pacquiao is to boxing, Coach Rio dela Cruz is to running.

But did anyone ever know the humble beginning of Coach Rio Dela Cruz?

The humble beginning of #Coach Rio Dela Cruz

Coach Rio Dela Cruz grew up in Bato, Camarines Sur. He is youngest of 14 children, Rio was raised by his father with the support of his paternal grandparents in Bicol.

Early on, he saw his future in running. He asked the school coach to let him join the tryout for the varsity team. But the teacher chose two others. But Rio was persistent so when his schoolmates were unable to consistently attend training, he stepped up and asked the coach again to accept him. He got in.

His coach signed him up and trained him for the 50-meter and 100-meter sprint, long jump and high jump events. He started joining running competitions when he was in fifth grade. He ran barefooted, not because of its scientific merits but because he had no rubber shoes, he beat everyone in the race. He won first place and was hailed the Unit Meet Champion in all the events he joined.

Coach Rio joined his first 5k race at the Milo Marathon in Quezon City with an official record of 20 minutes. Eventually, he improved and beat his competitors while setting a swift 19-minute finish time under the 5k category.

Rio continued running barefoot until a neighbor “with a good heart” noticed him running around, got so moved and gave him a pair of Mighty Kid rubber shoes. They were too small for his feet but he found a way to make it fit to him--he cut the front part to make room thus exposing his toes. After obtaining related injuries, he bought his first investment in the sports—a pair of Chuck Taylors. Not exactly made for running but Rio thought that the thick soles would make it last longer, making it a wise investment.

When he reached high school, balancing his studies and training without even enough money for food and transportation did not hinder him from doing both. He simply found ways to cope. He took on odd jobs like construction work, selling ice, cutting grass and taking out the neighbors’ garbage when he was younger. “These experiences motivated me to improve my life.” coach Rio said. He had to manage his time and sacrificed his social life so he could keep on training and attend his classes—sleeping early, waking up early to run, and then sleeping again for just a few more hours before going to class.

A brighter future

Coach Rio's future became brighter when he met the man who would support his running career. Boy Ramos, whom Rio fondly calls Kuya Boy, was impressed with his talent and offered him to stay in his house. Rio got out of the slums and also, finally, got his first pair of real running shoes.

Even while he was still in third year high school, Rio joined the training of the track and field team of UP Diliman and surprised everyone with his speed by beating older, more experienced runners. Coach Jay Sales of UP Varsity Track Team offered him a slot as soon as he entered college.

“My main goal was to finish my education, so I kept running, running and running. And because of running I got accepted into the University of the Philippines. I finished Bachelor of Science in Physical Education.”

During his first year as a UP varsity athlete, he won the second place for both the 5k and 10k track events in UAAP with a finish time of 16 minutes and 34 minutes respectively. He was awarded the Rookie of the Year award on his freshman year.

And many years since then, Rio has achieved things, won accolades, accumulated many podium finishes and ran in the Boston Marathon 2010—considered as the ultimate racing event.

Coach Rio's five key lessons on success

1. Know how to sell and brand yourself.

2. Innovate and create good client experience.

3. Apply past experience and lessons learned.

4. Plan ahead of time then check implementation.

5. Manage failure and accept glitches with humility.

The poor boy without shoes, without money to pay for his ride to school and his training, without the right food to fuel his body, is now hailed as one of the top running coaches and leading race event organizer with his own company.

This is a very inspiring and heart touching true to life story that I would like to keep on sharing.

But one more thing, if Coach Rio has this overwhelming inspiring story and Manny Pacquaio almost has the same story to tell, I also have my own story that I can share. You can read some part of my life in the article entitled "A very Special Letter to a very Special Mother". 

I can definitely relate the hardships and the scarcity of resources that both Coach Rio dela Cruz and Manny Pacquaio had before.

To those people who are gifted with financial abundance, take care of your wealth and share it to the needy people who surrounds you.

 

Disclosure: Credit goes to unilabactivehealth.com and GMAnetwork.com for the articles they published for Coach Rio Dela Cruz. All photos in this article are not owned by DiversityHuman.com. We acknowledge the owners of these images and consequetly credits remain in their names.

Lastly, this artile is NOT paid. We are not connected to RunRio.com.

WATCH the Official video of Coach Rio as he competes against hundreds of participants.

The challenge: Outrun Coach Rio in a 20-meter dash. 
Rio's Time: 2.3 seconds.

Upcoming Events as cited from the official page of Coach Rio Dela Cruz.