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Mieko has another mission in Kaike
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Posted on Jul 14 2011
Mieko Carey left Saipan last night to compete in the 31st Annual Annual Kaike Triathlon Championships and will be aiming for another goal besides finishing the race in Japan.
“I hope to bring more people from Japan for the 2012 Tagaman Triathlon,” Carey said in an email to Saipan Tribune a few hours before she left for Japan.
Carey finished second overall in the women’s division of the 2011 Tagaman Triathlon to earn an invitation to the Kaike Triathlon. For the past several years, Taga, Inc., organizer of Tagaman Triathlon, has been working together with Kaike organizers to bring Saipan triathletes to Kaike and vice versa. Last year, Carey went to Kaike with Tinian triathlete Joshua Manglona.
This year’s Kaike Triathlon will take place this Sunday at Japan’s Tottori Prefecture and it will be Carey’s third appearance in the annual event.
“I am ready to race. I will be going to Japan alone, but I know people from Saipan will cheer for me. I will do my best to represent the CNMI,” Carey said.
“I will also have some members of my family cheering for me in Japan and that will give me a lot of energy during the race,” added Carey, who thanked Taga, Inc., Asiana, Marianas Visitors Authority, Brabu, and IT&E for supporting her Kaike trip.
The 33-year-old triathlete had her best finish in Kaike last year when she placed third in the women’s division and 43rd overall among 850 finishers. She completed the 3-kilometer swim, 145-km bike, and a 42.195-km full marathon race in nine hours, 56 minutes, and 38 seconds. In 2009, Carey had a faster time at 8:22:35, but she finished 62nd out of 821 participants.
The Kaike event will be Carey’ second long race in less than two months after joining the grueling 2011 Ironman Kansas 70.3 in Lawrence on June 12. She completed the Kansas race in pain and it took a few weeks before she resumed training for Kaike. A week before the Kansas event, she was in Japan for the 2011 JCF Mountain Bike Japan Series 2 in Nagano. Carey is using the series of races this summer to prepare for the 2011 XTERRA World Championships, which will be held in Hawaii in October.
