7 triathletes off to Guam tournament

Tyce Mister, seen here during the bike leg of this year’s Tagaman Triathlon, and six other CNMI triathletes are heading to Guam this weekend for the 2014 Pacific Islands Triathlon Championships. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)

Veteran Tyce Mister leads the CNMI Team, which will race against the host and Papua New Guinea. Palau and Fiji were also invited to send representatives to the Sunday tournament. Completing the Commonwealth’s roster are Peter Prestley, Butch Sublemente, Jerome Diyco, Amy Sletten, Kaity Mattos, and Kimiko McKagan.

The seven CNMI triathletes earned tickets to the inaugural Pacific Islands Championships after making the grade in the two qualifying races—the Bergerman Triathlon in March and the 25th Tagaman Triathlon in April. Tyce and company will compete both in individual and team races of the Olympic distance event. The tournament will kick off in the waters off Merizo Pier for the 1.5-kilometer swim. Next up will be the 40.23K bike leg around Merizo Village (two laps) and finally the 10K run leg.

Mister is hoping to finish in the Top 10 this Sunday and recover quickly from a minor knee injury in a soccer game last weekend.

“I was feeling really strong until this past weekend when I injured my knee playing soccer. Hopefully, I’ll have full recovery by game day on Sunday, but I’m not having the tapering week I planned. The competition is a bit unknown. I know the guys from Guam, but Palau, Fiji, and PNG are mysteries to us. I’m sure there will be some very strong athletes from these countries. I hope to finish under 2 hours 15 minutes and place in the Top 10 overall,” the Marianas High School teacher said.

This will be Mister’s second tournament in Guam this year, as he also joined the 2014 XTERRA Guam in March. He also raced in XTERRA World Championships in Maui, Guam Extreme Adventure Race, Cairns 3 Day Adventure Race​, and Cairns Half Ironman in the past years and will use his vast experience in off-island competitions to achieve his goal in the weekend tournament.

Being the most senior member of the CNMI team, Mister advised his fellow triathletes to focus on their race.

“Yes, let others push you a bit, but not too much too early in the race,” he said.

While Mister is aiming for the Top 10 finish, Prestley is settling for no less than a win.

“My goal is to win of course,” said Prestley, who noted the tough training and preparation they did for the event.

“All of us were already training individually for XTERRA and Tagaman, so the training just continued after those races. In the last month and a half, we started to train more as a team, doing hill repeats during the week, long group rides on the weekends, early morning swims at Pau Pau, etc. It’s a little hard because we’re all on different schedules and don’t have any coaching, but there’s a ton of interest in triathlon on Saipan, so I hope the team will continue to grow every year and get more support through sponsorships and coaching,” he said.

The weekend competition in Guam will be Prestley’s second as representative of the CNMI after participating in last year’s XTERRA World Championships in Hawaii.

As for McKagan, the Pacific Islands Championships is her triathlon debut in Guam.

“I’m excited to race in Guam. I never joined any competitive race in Guam before because I only did a 5K fun run. I have not done Olympic distance triathlon in the last a couple years, so I’m excited about that, too,” McKagan said, adding the group rides and swims in the past several weeks keep them motivated.

“I’m not in perfect shape, but I did what I could and train before and after work. I will do my best in the race. I think I will do well in the bike leg. I’m a slow swimmer, so I usually pass people during the bike leg.

I worry about the heat during the race, which starts at 7am, so when we run, it will be very hot.

Anyway, I will enjoy the race,” she said.

Meanwhile, the team thanked the CNMI triathlon and cycling communities and host Guam for supporting the squad’s participation in the weekend competition.

“Thank you very much to our local organizers for their efforts in getting us there,” Mister said.