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Mieko joins 12 pros in XTERRA Guam
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Posted on Mar 08 2012
Two-time champion Mieko Carey will go for her third XTERRA Guam crown against a tough field tomorrow.
Carey, who won in 2008 and last year, will be defending the women’s championship against six-time XTERRA Saipan champion Renata Bucher of Switzerland, 2011 XTERRA Saipan runner-up Carina Wasle of Austria, British pro and XTERRA World veteran Jacqui Slack, and inaugural XTERRA Saipan champion Jamie Whitmore.
“It is a tough competition, but I am excited to race against four women’s pros and nine men in my first XTERRA race this year,” Carey said, who arrived in Guam last Wednesday. “It will be fun time again.”
“I rode the bike course yesterday. It was super dry, but this morning it was raining and they said there may be monsoon this weekend. Again, this is XTERRA, anything can happen,” added Carey, who timed in at 2:58:27 in the 2011 XTERRA Guam to beat United Kingdom pro Daz Parker (3:10:11) and Guam’s Kelly Dawes (4:01:56).
Guam will be the first stop of XTERRA participants this month. Next weekend, Bucher, former XTERRA Saipan champion Olivier Marceau, and other pros will head to Cebu for XTERRA Philippines. Then on March 24, Bucher and company will be here for the much anticipated XTERRA Saipan. Some of the pros will stay on Saipan for another week for the Tagaman Triathlon.
Challenging Marceau for the men’s crown in Guam are U.K.’s Graham Wadsworth and Cedric Lassonde, Australia’s Ben Allen, Colorado’s Branden Rakita, Japan’s Takahiro Ogasawara, and the Philippines’ Arlan Macasieb. The U.K’s Sam Gardner won last year, but will miss this weekend’s race.
Over 150 are doing the individual race that will start at 7am. XTERRA Guam, which is now a championship race and a qualifier for XTERRA World, will have a 1.5-kilometer swim in the waters off Piti, a 31-Km MTB race up to Nimitz Hill, Mt. Alutom and then down to Mannengon Hills all the way to transition point at Port Authority Beach, and a 8.2-Km trail run through jungle rivers and slippery waterfalls.
A total of $15,000 cash prizes await the Top 7 pro finishers with the champion in the men’s and women’s division receiving $2,200 each; $1,700 to the runners-up; $1,200 to third; $800 to fourth; $500 to fifth; $400 to sixth; and $300 to seventh.
