Former residents return home for races

Topnotch athletes from around the planet hit the water, jumped on the saddle, and hammered out the run for the XTERRA Saipan Championship and the 17th Tagaman Triathlon, and while a number returning professionals and amateurs enjoyed their annual trip to the Marianas, others were just happy to make the journey home.

While he has already hopped an Arizona-bound plane back to the reality of everyday life on the mainland, longtime Saipan resident Rob Carruth said that he enjoyed returning to the CNMI to see familiar faces as well as for all of the events during the 3rd Annual Saipan Sportsfest.

“It was like homecoming week. Saipan is such a special place. There are so many great people here and so many great friends that it was really the true reason to come out—even more than the races,” he said.

While enjoying the entertainment and fine food at the Pacific Islands Club during the Tagaman Awards Banquet on Sunday night, Carruth shared what felt to be the most memorable moments of the 2-kilometer swim, 60-km bike, and 15-km run.

“Just watching everybody have fun. I only ran on a team so I got to watch everybody come out of the swim, see the bike transition, and just cheer people on and just kind of have fun,” he said.

The reason why Carruth spent so much time watching the Tagaman race was because he joined forces with Gayle Berger to enter as a team, with Berger racing the swim and the bike and Carruth legging out the run.

While he had a great time as a member of the team, Carruth said that he would have raced the full Tagaman as an individual were it not for an unfortunate accident in the closing stages of the 2006 XTERRA Saipan Championship a week earlier.

“I made it through the whole XTERRA without falling but there was one of those tourist boats that was parked and the bow line was across the sand. It was up off the sand by only a little bit and I was cranking to finish when a wave came and lifted up the bow and lifted the rope up and took me out. So I pulled a muscle in my chest and I can’t swim right now. It’s kind of funny to make it through all of the technical stuff and fall on the beach,” he said.

Carruth said that he plans to come back in the next year or so for a number of reasons but that he hopes that the Marianas Visitors Authority opts to continue hosting the XTERRA Saipan Championship so that he can challenge the race again.

“I hope that you guys are able to pull some magic out of your hats and keep XTERRA here and I’ll come out next year, if not sooner for a couple of work things so I can come up once in a while,” he said.

Carruth wasn’t the only one to return for a team event. Since returning to Saipan in early February, fellow longtime CNMI residents John Douglas and Dawn Hammermeister picked up where they left off by returning to the multi-sport scene.

Once again, Hammermeister won her age group in the 1.5-km swim, 30-km mountain bike, and 12-km trail run course of the XTERRA Saipan Championship, while Douglas tested the waters of the XTERRA Sport.

Douglas said that while the couple left Saipan’s shores for Big Sky country last year, they were unable to find the same training routine after leaving.

“We found it was really difficult staying in shape in the cold weather. I really don’t mind running on the treadmill, but it was even harder to get ready to go and run on the treadmill,” he said.

Hammermeister passed on Tagaman to recover from XTERRA while Douglas teamed up with Jack Kabriel in hopes of taking the tandem crown, but they fell short of their goal.

“Jack swam and ran and I sandwiched the bike in there. We thought we had a pretty good chance. Jack came out of the water fast, but I just couldn’t hold it on the bike and I felt kind of bad about that,” he said.

Despite missing out on the trophy, Douglas said that he had a great time racing and that he is still thinking about whether or not to leave.

“[It’s been] fabulous. You know, we’re finding that we’re really questioning whether we want to be here or in Montana because it’s been such a good time,” he said.

While there is still plenty of time for them to decide where to call home, Douglas said that the couple will remain here until mid-May, and that they are looking to come back for six months next winter before Christmas and through the race schedule next spring.