Quinn gets NMASA Athlete of the Year award

Russ Quinn, fourth from left, poses with his NMASA Male Athlete of the Year plum and NMICF board members, from left, Alex Gozon and Esther Ada, president Vince Seman, and board member John Jones during the brief turnover ceremony yesterday at 360 Restaurant. (ROSELYN B. MONROYO)

Northern Mariana Islands Cycling Federation presented to Russ Quinn the NMASA Male Athlete of the Year trophy he won during Northern Marianas Amateur Sports Association’s 2013 Annual Awards Banquet in a brief ceremony yesterday at 360 Restaurant.
Present to hand Quinn the coveted award were NMICF president Vince Seman and board members John Jones, Esther Ada, and Alex Gozon. Quinn missed NMASA’s recognition day late last month at the Seaside Hall of Kanoa Resort because he was off-island.

Quinn earned NMASA’s nod after a successful comeback in cycling scene. He joined the 2013 Hell of Marianas and completed the 100-kilometer race in less than four hours. He did the feat less than a year after undergoing a hip replacement surgery.

“I did Hell of Marianas about seven months after the surgery. I wanted to go back to racing because it’s my wife (Kanae) who was organizing the Hell, so finishing the race and winning this award just made my return sweeter,” Quinn said.

“I am deeply honored with this award, especially at this time of my life when I am racing against promising and younger bikers,” the 49-year-old athlete said. “I would like to thank NMASA and its members for this recognition.”

Jones, who attended the NMASA rites and received the plum on behalf of Quinn, also thanked the group for honoring the latter and three more NMICF members (student athletes of the month Erico Castro and Gerald Rangamar and athlete of the month Nap Dizon).

“We are kind of new member of NMASA, but the organization gave us a warm welcome and respects us as shown in the members and officials’ votes to Russ and our three other athletes of the month awardees,” Jones said.

Meanwhile, Seman said NMASA’s recognition of Quinn’s achievement reflects NMICF’s commitment to produce competitive bikers and be active yearlong.

“NMICF is very committed to promoting cycling in the CNMI. So far we have about 150 members and the number could grow as we continue to see new bikers on the road,” said Seman, who added they have lined up a lot of competitions leading up to the group’s biggest event for the year—the Hell of Marianas.

“We have bikers who are joining XTERRA and Tagaman and we are supporting events from other bikers’ group,” Seman said.

The NMICF president also said they are planning to reach out to schools to attract younger members.

“In the last MISO triathlon, we gave free Hell entries to the top male and female finishers of the race. Hopefully in the near future, we can work on a cycling race for high school students or even those in junior high. One of our main goals is to recruit more youth bikers because that’s one of the best ways to ensure the steady growth of the sport. We wanted to have a sort of a ‘farm league’ of youth bikers,” Seman said.

The federation has started talking to Kagman High School to push its program for youth bikers, according to Ada.

“We’ve been communicating with Kagman High School, which got 30 bikes through a federal grant. They want us to help them run a race for their students,” Ada said.