By PNA and U.S. News Agency / Asian

About 30 local and foreign teams will be competing in the 9th Tour of Matabungkay (TOM), a dynamic three-day cycling event to be held Oct. 19 to 21 in Lian, Batangas.

Teams will be competing in four grueling stages. Day 1 (Oct 19) starts with two stages, a 20-km Individual Time Trial on a hilly course in the morning and a challenging 70-km road race climbing the slopes of Hamilo in the afternoon.

Day 2 (Oct 20) is the popular 130-km Payapa route and Day 4 (Oct 21) is a 40-km Team Time Trial.

Categories include OPEN (consists of 24 and below and those who wants to vie for any major awards), 25-35 age cat, 36-35 age cat, 46+ age cat and Women’s Open age cat.

More than 120 awards will be given away this year. So far there have been more than 400 participants who have registered for the event.

Powerhouse riders from over 30 amateur cycling teams nationwide and all over Asia will vie for major awards such as Magnolia Ice Cream’s King of the Mountain for the 70-km and 130-km road races, TOM 2012 Overall Team Champion, TOM 2012 Overall Individual Champion and the most coveted TOM 2012 Pinoy Rider of the Year.