Gintong Alay peers reunite in Laoag City

ON the sidetrack of the 3rd Sand Dunes Challenge in Laoag City on Feb. 22, 2025, five athletes whose lives and career were defined by the monumental sports program of former president Ferdinand Marcos Jr. reunited and shared stories from the golden era of Philippine athletics.

The Sand Dunes Challenge was a brainchild of Laoag City Mayor Michael Marcos Keon, the same man behind Project Gintong Alay (Golden Harvest), the national sports program that transformed the Philippines into an Asian track and field powerhouse in the 1980s.

Early morning at the sand dunes of Laoag City, Keon welcomed his peers from the Gintong Alay days: Australian Anthony Benson, American Antonio Carlos Cuda and former national athletes Renato Unso and Constantino Sebastian.

Benson, a 1972 Munich Olympian, was Keon's teacher and running coach in Australia. When Gintong Alay was put in motion in 1979, Keon tapped Benson to help train the Philippine track and field team.

Until this day, Keon is attributing Benson for bringing out the gem of an athlete from Lydia de Vega, Isidro del Prado and Hector Begeo, among others.

When Keon learned late last year that Benson has been living in Davao City, he called his former mentor and lured him — and his Davaoeña partner — to Laoag City.

The mayor wanted to make sure Laoag City will defend is overall title in the Region 1 Athletic Association slated this month and asked Benson, once again, to help train his athletes.

After more persuasions from the mayor, Benson finally went to Laoag City in mid January and worked right away with Keon's coaches, including Unso and Sebastian.

Unso won the men's 400m hurdles gold and the men's 110m hurdles silver in the 1983 Southeast Asian Games while Sebastian won the men's 4x400m bronze in the 1981 Southeast Asian Games.

Sebastian said Unso was supposed to be the first runner of that bronze medal team, more popularly known back then as "The Bicol Express."

"But he was injured, so I took his place," said Sebastian in Filipino.

"In fact, I was the only Ilocano in that Bicol Express team."

Before going to Laoag City to coach Keon's track team last year, Unso was coach of the national team.

With Keon's vision of tapping topnotch coaches, Laoag City topped the R1AA for the first time last year.

This time, with Benson also on board, Keon wants to make sure Laoag City would not only retain the R1AA crown, but also make waves in the 2025 Palarong Pambansa which Ilocos Norte is hosting.

Cuda, on the other hand, served as camp director of Gintong Alay. He now lives in La Union, helping marginalized young athletes realize their full potentials.

The Sand Dunes Challenge, which is part of Ilocos Norte's Pamulinawen Festival, offered cash prizes to the top three finishers. Cuda, however, donated P1,000 for the fourth place finishers in each race category and division.

"It's my way of paying it forward," said Cuda, a member of the Navajo Nation in the Unites States.

There are more Project Gintong Alay alumni out there and maybe for the 4th staging of the San Dunes Challenge next year, more veteran athletes will come to Laoag City and reminisce the good old golden days.