Over 100 to test 25th Tagaman

Austrian pro Carina Wasle, seen here running along the Micro Beach shore during last weekend’s XTERRA Saipan, will be competing in the Tagaman Triathlon tomorrow. (ROSELYN B. MONROYO)

A total of 128 athletes will participate in the silver anniversary of Tagaman Triathlon that starts tomorrow morning in waters off Pacific Islands Club Saipan.

Leading the list is newly crowned XTERRA Saipan champion Carina Wasle, who is entered in the Half Ironman division of Tagaman. The 70.3 race will feature a 1.9-kilometer swim leg in the waters off Pacific Islands Club, a 90K bike around the island, and 21K run from American Memorial Park down to PIC and back to AMP.

“After winning XTERRA, which was like a big dream come true, I can go very relaxed in Tagaman. I’ve never raced a 70.3 race before and I’ll use it as a good training race. It will be a very hard race, but I will try to keep it easy because of the heat and wind. We’ll see how I will deal with it,” Wasle said.

The Austrian pro will be up against six other female triathletes, including former Saipan pro Mieko Carey and the Philippines’ Monica Torres. Mieko will be using her familiarity with the event’s distance and course to aim for her first-ever Tagaman Triathlon victory.

“Half Ironman is my favorite road tri distance. I have done Half Ironman five times and I love it. It will be challenging because of the strong wind up north on the bike leg and heat on the run as I will be running past 10am. I will focus on my pace because that’s my strategy in long races. I learned this from the past Half Ironman I did,” Mieko said.

The Guam pro is hoping for a good time in Tagaman to boost her chances in the PIC Double championship, which will be decided by combining the triathletes’ times in the Tagaman and XTERRA Saipan. Carey clocked in 3:16:32 against the 3:03:31 of Wasle.

“I would like to challenge Carina for the PIC double and I will do my best,” Carey said.

Also challenging Wasle is the swimbikerun.ph’s three-time Female Elite Triathlete of the Year Torres, who is a veteran of various races in the Philippine. Torres also competed in races in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and the U.S.

The four other entries in the women’s division are Korea’s Chung Ja Jung and Japan’s Reiko Okamoto, Yoko Sano, and Etsuko Funakoshi.
In the men’s division, Russia’s Alesandr Dorovskikh is the favorite and will be battling a bunch of Korean and Japanese triathletes.

Meanwhile, Renata Bucher opted for the Olympic distance race this Saturday. The shorter course will cover a distance of 1K in the swim leg, 40K in the road bike, and 10K run. Bucher will be challenged by several local triathletes and representatives from Korea and Japan.

Fifty-one registered for the individual Olympic distance race, while seven signed up for the team event. In the Half Ironman, 45 individuals and seven teams will try to conquer the grueling race that will start at 6am with registration and numbering taking place from 4am to 5:30am.