Another week, another 3-peat for Marceau

Swiss machine Olivier Marceau achieved another incredible feat as he won his third straight Tagaman Triathlon in yesterday’s 17th edition of the race.

Marceau’s feat comes at the heels of the Olympian three-peating in the XTERRA Saipan Championship last Saturday.

Many expected the 33-year-old Marceau to win, but he did more than that as he dominated from the start en route to cutting five minutes off his winning time last year, as he tore the tape in 2:52:24.

Marceau swam like he owned the ocean as he conquered the 2-kilometer swim off the Pacific Islands Club in a time of 25:59—the fastest time of the event. By the time Marceau was finishing his first lap, he had already built a huge lead that continued to grow until he took off for the swim-bike transition.

His lead kept growing as he followed by punching in the best bike time, completing the 60-km course from PIC to Koblerville, back to PIC. From there he powered his way to the Bird Island Lookout, down to the Grotto, and made a final turn at Banzai Cliff before heading to the bike-run transition at the American Memorial Park. The long challenge seemed too easy for Marceau, who completed the leg in 1:31:57.

Marceau then abused his running shoes and clocked in the second best run time in 54:28.

Following Marceau was Byung-Hoon Park of Korea, who finished strong with the fastest run performance and crossed the finish line in 2:55:13. He swam for 30:32, was less than a minute off of Marceau’s bike time (1:32:31), then burned rubber for a time of 52:10 in the run.

Fellow Korean Chang-Jae Yeo placed third overall as he finished in 2:59:15, completing the swim in 31:07, the bike in 1:33:13, and the run in 54:55.

Margus Tamm of Estonia was fourth overall and broke the three-hour mark as he recorded a time of 2:59:36. It took him just 29:45 for the swim, 1:35:07 for the bike, and 54:44 for the run.

Saipan’s Stuart Smith represented well as he placed fifth overall in 3:02:43. Ryan Decook of Michigan was sixth overall in 3:06:18, Noriaki Ito took seventh in 3:09:49, and China’s James Kennedy followed up a second place finish in the XTERRA with a strong eight place finish in the Tagaman, clocking in at 3:10:42.

Kate Bevilaqua of Australia, meanwhile, topped the women’s field as she posted the best bike and run times to finish ahead of the pack in 3:11:05.

Bevilaqua was the fourth female out of the water (30:07), but took the lead in the bike as she cycled past two-time champion Jamie Whitmore with a time of 1:42:45. She then capped an impressive performance with a 58:13 on the run.

For Whitmore, it was consecutive strong finishes as she placed second in 3:13:15—she also placed second in XTERRA. She hammered out the best swim time in 30:01, and was less than a minute off Bevilaqua’s bike performance as she posted a time of 1:43:41. She then closed out her morning with a 59:33 run.

Taking third place was Japan’s Naomi Imaizumi, who conquered the course in 3:16:58, finishing the swim in 30:03, the bike in 1:45:00, and the run in 1:01:55.

Two-time XTERRA Saipan champion Renata Bucher finished in fourth place with a time of 3:20:44, while Mexico’s Fabiola Corona placed fifth in 3:24:02.

A total of 111 athletes took part in yesterday’s event, which also featured relay competition.