The Man Behind the Afro
Those who have had the pleasure of knowing Coach Rio De La Cruz personally, or have heard even just bits and pieces of his rags-to-riches life story, will agree that this 27-year-old high-speed roadrunner, running coach extraordinaire, and running events maestro has come a very long way – literally and figuratively. From his humble beginnings as a native of Bato, Camarines Sur, he is the youngest of 14 children – 7 of which are his full-blooded siblings while the rest are half-siblings. At nine-months old, his biological mother left them and it was his biological father who raised their whole brood while they lived with his grandfather in Bicol. Innocence is bliss and despite the hardships that surrounded him and his family, he still found joy in childhood games where he had his first encounter with the sport that has made a great impact in his life: running.
The Young Rio
Coach Rio fondly remembers how, as a child, he would sneak away from his disciplinarian of a grandfather during full moon to play hide-and-seek and agawan-base with his siblings and friends. His first entrepreneurial venture was working at his uncle’s koprahan and earning two pesos for a day’s work of harvesting copra. His first school experience was sitting in with his older sister, Dada, and again incorporating his natural industrious skills by cutting grass in her school in exchange for some nilagang saba or kamote.
The young Rio experienced another first when he and his family rode the PNR train en route to Manila, where he also rode a taxi for the first time on the way to his uncle’s house. In Manila, little Rio was finally enrolled in Grade 1 and received public education from Libis Elementary School but he had to endure the daily 2 to 3 kilometer walk from their house to the school with nothing but a 1-peso allowance from his dad and an occasional 2-peso bonus for every star he got from his teachers. Again, with his money-making skills apparent at such a young age, he opted to invest his allowance on playing marbles with his friends. Alas, luck was not yet on his side and he ended up losing most of his hard-earned money more often than he had planned.
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