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Koreans cancel, Hell still on
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Posted on Nov 23 2006
For the second time this year the Peace Half-Marathon meant to commemorate the 61st anniversary of Korea’s liberation and the founding of the Republic of Korea, was cancelled.
According to Ed Diaz of the Marianas Visitors Authority, organizers of the event scrubbed the second running of the event for the second time in five months, but details were not available from Sports Link, Korea.
Last year runners from Korea, Japan, Philippines, and the United States were all set to join the race but the Korean Tour Association of Saipan, the [I]Segye Times, Kyunghyang Daily News[/I], Asiana Airlines, and World Resort were unable to coordinate the 13.1-mile challenge despite initially expecting a large showing of athletes is expected to answer the call.
The cancellation means an open date for the local athletic calendar on Dec. 10, but there is still another event available for mountain bikers as the Northern Mariana Islands Triathlon Federation is hosting the Hell of the North Mountain Bike Race.
According to race director Nate Hawley, the race will not be as vertically taxing as Russ Quinn’s brainchild Tough Love event, but it will have all of the pulse-pounding action fitting of a mountain bike race.
On Sunday, Dec. 10, racers will mount their bikes for a four lap journey from the Last Japanese Command Post that will take them north toward the landfill, curve around the Cowtown Raceway to the Banzai Cliff seaside trail, past the monuments and new CNMI Veterans’ Cemetery, and back.
Those not looking to go it alone can team up with a partner, but Hawley said that the race is a “flat low-tech course” and that “there are no excuses” not to grab your bike and set course for Hell.
Race day registration for the new event begins at 6:30am followed by the punctual 7am start. The cost to participate next month’s race is $15 for NMITF members and $20 for non-NMITF members.
