3 pros to challenge Mieko in ‘Hell’

 Saipan’s Mieko Carey will defend her women’s division crown in next month’s 5th Annual Hell of Marianas Century Cycle Race against three pros.

Carey was the first female finisher of last year’s 100-kilometer race around the island after timing in at three hours, 22 minutes, and 5.34 seconds and will be racing against Australia’s Jodie Willett, Korea’s Chan Hee Hwang, and Russia’s Natalia Zakharva on Dec. 3

The 34-year-old Willett is a member of the Flight Centre Merida professional mountain bike squad and is trying out for a slot on the Australian National Team that will compete in the 2012 London Olympics. She was named Queensland Road Cyclist of the Year in 2009 and represented Australia in the World Mountain Bike Championships in Canberra. The Brisbane native also won the women’s race at the Flight Centre Cycle Epic in South-East Queensland in August 2009.

Hwang was once a winner in Seoul Bike Rally, a race from Olympic Park used during the 1988 Olympics to the city hall of Seoul. Zakharva is a Russian elite pro.

The three off-island pros will try to deny Carey from winning back-to-back women’s championship. Carey finished 10th overall last year and was more than 17 minutes ahead of runner-up Chiyo Lombard (3:39:31.41) of Guam. Korean pro Myo Jin Kim placed third at 3:50:19.38. Carey’s 2010 winning time was faster than her 2009 time (3:22:27) when she placed runner-up to Olympian Amber Halliday of Australia.

The four top bets in the women’s division will be joined in next month’s race by men’s defending champion Joon Yong Seo of Korea, fellow returnee Konstantin Fast of Russia and newcomers and Aussie pros Matthew Wood and John Anderson.

The four men’s pros will battle local bets Lewie Tenorio and Butch Sublemente and Guam’s Ben Ferguson, Peter Lombard, David Spelger, Cameron O’Neil, and Derek Horton.

The century race will start and end at the southern parking lot of Pacific Islands Club in San Antonio with bikers heading to Airport Road, going up to San Vicente, Talafofo, Kagman and Kingfisher, and down to Capital Hill. Riders will then head to Radar, Suicide Cliff, Grotto, Bird Island Lookout, and Banzai before returning to San Antonio via Beach Road.

Registration deadline is only until tomorrow and bikers can join the solo, two-person, or four-person race. Check-in time is at 5:15am, while he race starts at 6:15am.

To register or for more information, contact PIC frontdesk at 237-5148.