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Banzai Half Marathon starts early this morning
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Posted on Sep 26 2008
Excitement is brewing as organizers hope to draw around 200 runners to join today’s 3rd Annual PowerAde Banzai Memorial Half Marathon and Fun Run at the Banzai Cliff in Marpi.
Northern Marianas Islands Triathlon Federation member Brad Ruszala said they are ready to hold the event, which will be for the benefit of a community sports club association in the CNMI.
Recipients from the first two years were the Saipan Swim Club and Northern Marianas Athletics.
Participants need to register at 5:30am with a fee of $10.
The half marathon race will start at 6am, while the fun run begins at 7am.
The first 100 finishers to get t-shirts. There will also be lots of prizes to be won in the raffle.
Ruszala said they have been getting bigger support from the community the past two years.
POWERade is the main sponsor for this year’s event. The other corporate donors are Coca-Cola, Foremost, Subway, Glimpses, Beach Road Magazine, PTI, Taga Inc., Tagaman, Saipan XTERRA, Pacific Islands Club, The Athlete’s Foot, All-Star Sports, JG Sablan Ice & Water, Michelob Ultra, Wear-A-Marconi, musician John Jenkins, and www.shopmarianas.com.
Marianas Visitors Authority is also a major supporter of the event.
Ruszala said members of the Marianas High School’s National Honor Society would volunteer their services to help make the event a successful one.
“I’m expecting to see about 30 of them out there helping out tomorrow (today),” said Ruszala.
Taga Inc. also became a part of the race this year by donating the use of their official time clock. “Previously we were using only stopwatches to track all of our finishers,” explained Ruszala.
He said Taga Inc. would be at Banzai Cliff selling all sorts of gear from Tagaman and XTERRA Saipan Championship at 25 percent off their retail price, which he said would be a great deal for local racers looking to get quality gear from our local races.
As for volunteering, “we’ve got aid stations and people directing the runners along the course”
Ruszala said “it is easy to be a volunteer and it’s great knowing that you’re a part of the race without having to run!”
