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140 bikers to race in Hell of Marianas
A group of cyclists negotiates a curve near the road heading to Bird Island Lookout in the Northern portion of Saipan in last year’s Hell of the Marianas. The island’s most challenging cycling race returns tomorrow. (Jon Perez)
More than 100 bikers will hit the road this Saturday as they compete in the 2015 Hell of the Marianas Century Cycle Race.
According to Pivot LLC’s Kelli Wedd, 140 have registered for the weekend event with most of the bikers (90) coming from Saipan. Guam has the second most entries with 19, while Korea has 18 representatives. Other bikers are from Japan (5), U.S. (3), Taiwan (3), and Russia (2).
Russia will be led by men’s division defending champion Konstantin Fast, while Guam’s Mieko Carey, who won last year’s women’s race, will also return to vie for back-to-back titles.
Of the 140 entries, eight teams will join the two-person event, while six are competing in the four-person division.
Bikers are asked to pick up race packets today at the lobby of Mariana Resort from 2pm to 6pm and be at the starting line at the same hotel before the 6:15am start time tomorrow.
From the starting line, riders will head first to Palms Resort for the U-turn before proceeding to the Marpi area where they will pass through Suicide Cliff, Bird Island, Grotto, and Banzai Cliff for the first 25K of the 100K event.
For the next 25K, bikers will go south through Beach Road and will pedal straight to the villages of San Antonio (Pacific Islands Club/50K mark) and Koblerville. From Koblerville, they will head to the Airport Road and up to the villages of San Vicente, Papago and Kagman. The Laolao Bay Golf & Resort entrance will be the turning point for the 75K as riders head down to Kingfisher Golf Links and Capitol Hill before making a decent to As Matuis (Radar Hill) and then back to Mariana Resort for the finish.
All riders must make the 1:15pm cutoff to get an official time from the race. Motorists and pedestrians, on the other hand, are reminded to take extra caution during race time at the areas and villages mentioned above.
