25 complete races in Rota Coffee Marathon

Saipan’s Rommel Buenaflor celebrates his finish in last Saturday’s Inaugural Rota Coffee Marathon. (Contributed Photo)

Twenty-five runners got a taste of a hilly course and a warm welcome from the hosts during last Saturday’s Inaugural Rota Coffee Marathon.

“Though there are a lot of hills, Rota has a nice run course. The people are very welcoming, waving at every runner passing by. The drivers are always giving way to the runners,” said Saipan’s Rommel Buenaflor, who competed in the full marathon and placed fourth overall among the nine finishers and third in the men’s division of the 42K race.

Buenaflor timed in at 4:23:37 in the race that started and ended at the Rota Resort & Country Club in Sinapalo with runners also cruising along Songsong and passing through Japanese-administrative era coffee plantations. The Rota event was his third full marathon in about two months, as he also joined the Saipan Marathon (4:00:55) in March and in United Airlines Guam Marathon (4:07:00) early this month.

Finishing ahead of Buenaflor and completing the Top 3 were Japanese Koichi Shimazaki (3:10:16) Masayuki Ebina (4:16:03). Another Japanese runner, Nansuko Ishikawa (3:24:45), won the women’s race, while other finishers were her compatriots Daiki Jikuhara (5:13:12), Teishi Kishii (5:36:12), and Tomonori Igaki (5:49:01), Saipan’s Daniel Calvo (5:13:120, and Rota’s John Mendiola (5:13:12).

In the half marathon race, Saipan’s Raymund Tolentino led the finishers after checking in at 2:15:04. Lone female finisher Elena Gersonde of Fiesta Resort & Spa Saipan was ranked second overall as she completed the 21K run in 2:23:11. Another Saipan bet, Floro Derexes, finished third with a time of 2:49:17, while Rota’s Deron Mendiola came in at fourth after submitting 3:12:47.

In the 10K event, Saipan swept the men’s and women’s divisions with Kosuke Sato posting the best time overall after logging 51:50. His wife, Chiharu Sato, topped the women’s field after completing the course in under one hour, too (59:32).

Rota’s Daniel Depalog and Romeo Adriatico registered 59:00 and 1:04:33, respectively, to join Kosuke in the podium, while Jessel Candia (1:48:48) and Loreville Clitar (1:48:51), also from the host island, rounded out the Top 3 in the women’s division.

Completing the 10K finishers in the event that was organized by Marianas Visitors Authority and KFC Triathlon Club Japan were Saipan’s Ravenal Valencia (1:04:46), Ricky Castro (1:10:49), and Ambet Omampo (1:32:43) and Rota’s Alysha Maratita (1:48:52), Mercedes Adriatico 91:50:41), and Agida Quitugua (2:11:00).