Pacific Daily News from Agana Heights, Guam • Page A30

By Jojo Santo Tomas Pacific Sunday News LONDON For more than half his life, Derek Horton just ridden bikes, raced them. And for almost all that time, been one of top athletes in his field. Now, at age 39, Horton is considered one of the best in the world. Not necessarily a medal-favorite here at the 2012 London Olympics, but he is one of the two on eight-member team who earned the right to be here on merit. But as we learn in this introspective it takes more than powerful legs, technical skill and a desire to succeed.

It takes the commitment of a family. Describe the training undertaken in the last four years. A Four years ago my training was not as intense as it is now. It was just basically doing enough to stay competitive locally, since my girlfriend at the time and I were expecting our daughter, Cadence, to be born in February 2008. With constantly being tired from work, adjusting to a new family and just daily life, training took a back seat.

At what point did you realize that London was a possibility, and how did your change after that realization? A In 2010 I underwent two abdominal surgeries that limited me; one early in the year and one late, around August. Toward the end of that year we discussed the London Olympics and if want to try to qualify. She said have to be selfish and be fully committed. Together we decided to give it a shot. Sydney 2000 was my other Olympics.

At the same time being proud of going to the Olympics, I was overwhelmed. I was going to do the best I possibly could, but that good enough to hang with the top riders. I basically tried to make the whole experience a positive one and enjoy the moment. How are you physically different from four years ago? A just slightly more physically mature, more mentally than physically. You have to be tougher mentally to handle the physical workloads on top of all the other things life has in store for you.

With around a year and a half to train for Oceania 2012, we went straight to Oceania 2011 in Australia to make our intentions and our presence known. Physically I was just a couple months into training, and nowhere near the shape I needed to be to qualify, but mentally I knew I had to go no matter what. Describe your training over the last two years. A Most of my races the past two years have been local mountain biking and road races. I have won almost all of the mountain biking races, consisting of the Red Dirt series, Blackjack rally and a few other random races.

Describe your competitions in the last two years? A Technical skill weighs more heavily with mountain biking so what I lacked with fitness, I made up with off-road skill. On the road, though, been tough. With guys like Pete Lombard, Mark Walters, Jazy Garcia and a few others, wins have been really hard to come by. As far as international races, had two top 10s at Hell of the Marianas and the previously mentioned Oceania Champs. I crashed out of the 2011 event, and then got 13th in 2012.

What are your career highlights so far? A Definitely my two Olympic trips have been the highlights of my career. Just being able to compete off island is a privilege not many athletes have. As a returning Olympian, what does London 2012 signify for you? A The London Olympics signify my desire to compete at a higher level. They signify a drive to succeed that for me was only possible with the support and partnership of my wife, Ness. This was our dream.Ouraccomplishment.

I love her for that. What would you consider failure in your event? Success? Glory? A Success in sport is all relative. If I had devoted four years of my life to turning pro and racing full time to earn a living, then I would look at nothing less than medaling. But that would mean traveling to World Cup races, continental championships all over the world and finding as many big-time races to try and win. No family life.

Total commitment. Living on Guam makes that an impossibility. Realistically, I would like to finish on the same lap as the winners. That would be a true accomplishment for me. What message would you like to tell the people of Guam? A For all the up-and-coming athletes from Guam, no matter what sport, love your sport unconditionally.

Love what you do and you will never fail. Making it to the top can be achieved. Only you can keep you from accomplishing your dreams. Because if you listen to those people telling you you make it, you never will. As they say, you keep trying to succeed, you will someday.

But if you fail to even try, you will never Who would you like to thank? A Lastly, I would like to extend thanks to my island of Guam. I am truly proud to represent all the people of Guam. I would also like to thank the Guam Cycling Federation and its members. You make racing on Guam truly rewarding. To my parents, thank you for loving me and supporting me in all I do.

My dad asked me to try and make it to another Olympics because his T- shirts from Sydney are all tattered and faded. He wants new ones. I want to thank Frank and Carol Guerrero from Km Universal. I want to also thank Arty Guerrero for being one of my longest lasting friends and for wanting to be my coach here in London. Thanks to the boys at Nissan and Mr.

Gerling for keeping me busy at the shop and supporting me when I needed help. also like to thank my friends at Docomo Pacific for supporting me in my quest for London. Rod at Hafa Adai Signs, thanks for the banners, they rocked. To Pat Civille and Joyce Tang, thanks for just being great friends and great people. And thanks to the crew from Hornet for the daily support.

Love you guys. I want to especially thank all my friends who offered even just one comment for support and congrats. There are way too many of you both on island and off. I love all of you, and I wish I was more proficient at Facebook. trying.

And thanks to my family for helping and supporting me. You are all awesome. And most importantly, I want to thank the love of my life, my true love, my bestest friend, my wife Ness. You are my reason for even trying to achieve this. This is our dream.

And I forget my biggest fan, my daughter Cadence. Thank you for always asking are we going to I hope I make everyone proud. Family commitment was key Horton gives credit to wife for allowing him to succeed guampdn.com PACIFIC SUNDAYNEWS, July 29, 2012 30 PORTS Photo courtesy of Derek and Monessa Horton What a rush: Derek Horton competes in the Channel 10 mountain bike race. Horton, a mountain-bike rider, will represent Guam at the 2012 Olympic Games in London. It is his second Olympics as a Guam athlete.

To see photos for this story, visit the Pacific Daily News photo gallery at www.GuamPDN.com PHOTOS ONLINE relation to Guam Olympic runner Amy Atkinson as far as the Pacific Sunday News knows as provided laughs, shown dreaming that he was appearing in of the inspiring story of a Scotsman and an Englishman at the 1924 Paris Games. Headlong rushes of movie images took spectators on wondrous, heart-racing voyages through everything British: a cricket match, the London Tube, the roaring, abundant seas that buffet and protect this island nation, and along the Thames, the river that winds like a vein through London and was the gateway for the rise over the centuries as a great global hub of trade and industry. The parade of nations featured most of the roughly 10,500 athletes some planned to stay away to save their strength for competition marching behind the flags of the 204 nations taking part. Greece led, as the spiritual home of the games, and Team Great Britain was last, as host. Prince William and his wife, Kate, joined in thunderous applause that greeted the British team, which marched to the David Bowie track Ahelicopter showered the athletes and stadium with 7 billion tiny pieces of paper one for each person on Earth.

The Pacific Sunday News contributed to this report. billion pieces of paper, one for each of us Continued from Page 32 p.m. and the show lasting almost two hours, it was about 11 p.m. before the parade of nations. Guam was 76th, and even after the 205th nation Great Britain, of course was announced, there still was another hour of pomp and circumstance before a history of Great Olympians lit the Olympic cauldron at the center of the field.

It was well past 1 a.m. by the time the last fireworks launched and the last sparkler fizzled into smoke. And though the athletes were standing for hours, their energy was so electric you could feel it ripple through the stadium. The games begin in earnest today in several sports. Pilar Shimizu kicks off action for Team Guam at 10:43 a.m.

today at the Aquatics Center, or about 8 p.m. Guam time. Chris Duenas follows Tuesday morning. Jojo Santo Tomas is a reporter for the Pacific Daily News. Follow his blog at GuamPDN.com.

Boy go: Pilar Shimizu will swim today Continued from Page 32.