Another champion checks in

Roughly 120 finely-tuned-up triathletes will make a big splash in the waters along Micro Beach tomorrow morning to kick off the fourth running of the XTERRA Saipan Championship, and while several of the multi-sport enthusiasts will strive to be the first to cross the finish line at American Memorial Park, only Olivier Marceau looks to take the tape and become the first professional men’s repeat winner.

“I am very excited to be back on Saipan. Since last year I have been thinking about coming back because I had such a great experience here. Both the XTERRA and Tagaman races were very good memories. I met friendly people, it’s a very nice island, and I hope to win again so I can come back and defend the title next year as well,” said Marceau.

The two-time Olympian touched down on Tuesday morning, and has already begun swimming, biking, and running the courses for both of the races. Yesterday he hopped on a mountain bike and tackled the 30-kilometer course with fellow Swiss triathletes Mario Deicher and Renata Bucher.

“I did some TV shoots yesterday, but I didn’t get to see the whole course. Last year it was raining a lot before the race, and it was very wet. This year I hope it will be dry and it’ll be faster.”

With a dry course, Marceau feels that he could improve upon his time of 2:33:20 from last year. Despite slippery conditions, Marceau set a new course record on the bike by two minutes (1:19:29). He stands to improve upon his swim time as well, as the waters are a bit more favorable to the athletes compared to the choppy conditions that the triathletes endured last year, although he posted the fastest swim time in the 1.5-km course at 21:33.

Though the chiseled champion appeared to be in tip-top shape, he conceded that he was in better condition for the 2004 race because of his pursuits in mentoring the future of the French and Swiss triathlon crop.

“I think I am not as fit as I was last year, because last year I had very hard training in Australia. This year is a bit different. It was my first time in Australia with the squad where I was running the squad like a coach and training with them. I brought like 10 Swiss and French triathletes, and we were training together for three months, so for me it’s kind of like a new job.”

Last year after Saipan, Marceau took part in a couple of training camps with the Swiss National Team in the altitude of the alps to get ready for the most challenging of bike courses, and won in the Rolex European XTERRA series. Though he didn’t do as well as he would in the final race, he gathered additional experience that he plans to use in the future.

“In the championships I had a bad race and finished seventh. I don’t know what happened—I think I didn’t eat enough before the race, but I felt very hungry. After the run I felt very tired but it was a good experience.”

The 2004 XTERRA Saipan champion made the switch from extreme racer to two-time Olympian when he represented his country in the 2004 Athens Games where he finished eighth overall.

“It was great. Of course, the Olympic Games are a dream for every athlete and I had the luck to do them twice. Maybe I can do a third one in Beijing in 2008. At the moment I’m not racing too hard so I can save strength and energy, and next year or in two years I will start again very hard to try for another Olympiad.”

Marceau said that while he trained hard and that he was happy with his results, he didn’t feel very good on race day.

“The bike course was very tough and I didn’t have very good legs on race day. I couldn’t break away, I couldn’t ride as hard as I would like, but that is the race—it happens, and I’m not disappointed.”

While the 32-year-old Marceau has plenty of racing in his future, he said that the type of training he offered in Australia is a prelude to his post-competitive triathlon career.

“When I stop racing triathlons I would like to do this, so I start now slowly to I can see what’s going on. It’s been working very well, and I’m very happy with that, and next year I’ll do it again.”

As for now, Marceau is just looking to repeat as the Saipan champion, but after both of the races are finished, his plans are still up in the air.

“I don’t really know (what’s next) because I have a team in France who needs me for a regular triathlon, so I’ll try to do the first two (XTERRA) races in the European series in Italy and the Czech Republic. Then I need to talk to my manager to see what I can do and what I can’t, but I wish to do the World Series in Europe.”