During his college days, Ryan Agoncillo was already exhilarated with speed as a motorcycle and car-racing enthusiast. So, even while already in the fast-paced world of show business as a multiawarded host and actor, he still dabbles in sports that tests his athletic abilities, such as mountain biking and triathlon.
At his introduction as the brand ambassador of (Paracetamol) Panadol with Optizorb, a type of paracetamol caplet that works five times faster than regular formulation, the articulate host couldn’t contain his excitement about his hobbies, pain-inducing as they may be. At the time, he just did the Xterra Albay race and was still deep in training for Xterra Rotorua New Zealand. (Organized by First Tier Sports Productions, the Paymark Xterra Rotorua Festival is the biggest multisport event in New Zealand and the biggest Xterra event held anywhere in the world.)
“The Xterra Albay is a beautiful course, but Xterra Rotorua is tagged as the most beautiful Xterra course in the world. I did it already last year and I wanna do it again this year and improve on my time,” Ryan said. “There, I feel like I’m Frodo. Your competitors are so big, like 6’2, 200-plus pounders, size 13 feet! When you’re in the water with them, if they happen to kick you, you’re done. When they’re running, your three strides is equivalent to just one for them. It’s challenging and it’s such a difficult course.”
What inspired him to go into triathlon? “Peer pressure,” he laughed. “I’ve been racing cars and motorcycles since I was in college. Then I found a good outlet in mountain biking. I really don’t consider myself a triathlete. I’m a mountain biker first. From there, my friends and I challenged each other to try triathlon. My dream to finish first place in a race happened in February, but it took me two years to be first in my age category.
“A lot of my friends in social media influenced me. I see them and they’re strong. Even those with no athletic background before look fantastic now. They do well. They do better at their jobs. Triathlon is not just an athletic endeavor. Actually it’s a mastery of schedules, a mastery of yourself. Discipline. Without you knowing, it will fix your life. For me, that’s what happened. I had to have something to anchor my crazy schedule on to. Accept rakets left and right, sa June na bakasyon. All of those are variable. But if you enter something as rigid and as discipline-oriented as triathlon, you now have an anchor. Wala ka pang trabaho, wala ka pang bakasyon, naka-schedule na ang buhay mo. From there, you’d know which dates would be OK to accept jobs and which times you can watch movies,” Ryan said.
Frenetic schedule aside, it goes without saying that Ryan ensures that he spends quality time with his superstar-wife Jud Ann Santos, daughter Johanna Louis (Yohan) and son Juan Luis (Lucho), who incessantly mimics what his dad does.
What Ryan is also very adamant about also is maintaining his health and well-being, but pain from injuries is unavoidable. “It’s part of the game. It’s par for the course. You just try to minimize it by not being stupid with your choices. With us, it’s important that you’re in good condition, because in the trail, if you get distracted, you’ll trip. Like what happened to me earlier, I got distracted and hit a tree. But those things, when you’re in good condition, you bounce back immediately,” Ryan added.
“At Xterra we want everyone to ‘live more,’ so that means getting out there and giving it a go,” so states the runningcalendar.co.nz site. It’s a mantra that echoes the philosophy of Panadol maker GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), one of the world’s leading research-based pharmaceutical and health-care companies, which is committed to improving the quality of human life by enabling people to do more, feel better and live longer.
“My family is my top priority but sometimes, because of my workload, I suffer from terrible headaches. Fortunately, there’s Panadol. It offers fast relief to make my super moments with my family pain-free. Indeed, when pain is gone, life takes its place,” Ryan said.