Handcrafted athletics

By: Camilo Bautista – Communications Advisory Office

Gallons of oil, detergent bottles, skate frames, PVC pipes, ropes, tires, wood, and other materials are what Professor Guillermo uses to assemble equipment similar to that available on the market for training specific muscle groups. “Everything is used to transform materials into training supplies for the kids, since some of them come from low-income families and don't have the means to buy them. I apply my knowledge of physical education and the discipline of athletics,“ Cantor explains.

Professor Guillermo is currently a coach at the Fusagasugá Athletics School and the Cafú club, where he trains young people between the ages of 6 and 17, using handcrafted equipment.

Applying a training system combined with a methodology for creating training equipment has allowed this veteran athlete to prepare athletes who have already become national and South American champions. Others have won bronze medals, such as the one obtained at the Pan American Championship in Costa Rica.

Professor Guillermo says that "on a personal level, the achievement is being able, on the one hand, to continue as an active athlete thanks to the training with the homemade gym and definitely, to pass on my knowledge to the boys.".

From school he liked to participate in competitions, already in high school, he represented it in the competitions of the category to which he belonged at the time, and it was precisely in one of those competitions, in which the professors of the University of Cundinamarca, Jorge Acosta and Jairo Acosta, invited him to train under their tutelage and thanks to that training, he was able to win a national competition, this triumph led him to focus on athletics, thus he came to represent Cundinamarca in three national games and to be a national champion.

After finishing high school, he entered UCundinamarca to study Physical Education, then specialized and worked for twenty years as a professor at his alma mater.

Among his achievements are being the national youth cross-country champion, winning silver and bronze medals in the Half Marathon and 10k races respectively at the 1986 National Games, and being the fourth best Colombian in the South American Cross Country Championship in 2017. Among his latest achievements are the title of champion of the Marathon of the Sea and the Medellín Half Marathon in 2022.

At the international level he was crowned champion of the Miami Half Marathon, Latin American Duathlon Champion (bicycle and athletics).

Guillermo believes that the role of sport in society is fundamental, as it generates discipline, commitment, responsibility, good habits and honesty in those who practice it.

It is precisely thanks to these values that he instills in his athletes that one of his pupils, Santos Felipe Puentes Adarmes, who has been training with Professor Guillermo for 8 years, now boasts championships in local races such as Ciudad Jardín, national champion of the mountain race, both in the municipality of Fusagasugá, international champion of the Bogotá half marathon in 2022, to mention some of the achievements reached, “the professor has been a person who has taught us discipline, perseverance, love for what we do, to fight for our dreams regardless of the circumstances, with his example he always motivates us to continue,” shared Felipe.

Coach Guillermo leaves a message for his athletes: “If you ever remember me, don’t do it for the medals you won, but for what I contributed as a person. Always be respectful, intelligent, humble, and fighters for your goals.”

And he concludes by saying, "We have to prepare ourselves to grow old while still being young.".

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