Wrong turn costs Mieko XTERRA Guam

Saipan pro Mieko Carey missed her third XTERRA Guam crown after making a wrong turn in the 31K bike leg of last Saturday’s race.

Carey, who completed the championship race in 3:14:22, finished fourth in the women’s pro division behind champion Renata Bucher of Switzerland (2:47:25), Austria’s Carina Wasle (3:02:26), and United Kingdom’s Jacqui Slack (3:07:10). The Saipan bet ended up at fourth despite finishing second in the 1.5K swim (24:26) and leading Wasle and Bucher by about a minute. Slack was the first woman out of the water (21:32).

“The swim was great, not much current and waves. It was nice to race in Guam again and have my first big triathlon event of the year after several months of training,” said Carey.

What started as a great race turned into a not so good when Carey made a wrong turn after biking for about 30 minutes.

“I don’t know how I got lost,” said Carey, who was in Guam a few days before the race and took part in a pre-ride of the course with local riders and got lost, too. “I was following the XTERRA tape, but suddenly I came out at the place I had been before. I later found out I should turned right, instead of straight ahead,” the 2011 XTERRA Guam champion said.

“I saw two riders from the other side and then followed them to finish the course. After the wrong turn, I had no rest and kept it going,” said Carey, who lost more than five minutes in the bike leg.

The 33-year-old triathlete completed the bike race in 1:54:53 (fourth in the women’s and 23rd overall), just a minute behind Slack, who also made a wrong turn in the bike race.

“At the Transition 2, I saw runners and two female pros and I tried to catch up. It was hot, there were no clouds at all. Midway in the run course, we ran in the river and I was really looking forward to that. Last year, the water was around knee high, but last Saturday it was waist high and there were some parts that my feet couldn’t touch. I swam with my running shoes on, it was a tough run,” Carey said.

The ordeal in the 8K swim leg did not end there for Carey, as in the last few meters of the race, she had to run in the ocean during high tide.

“There was no way I could run, the water was up to my chest. I did a dolphin dive but felt the same speed, so I had to do breaststroke to make walking easier and finally I went to the finish line,” said the 5’1” Carey.

Carey completed the run leg in 55:03 and was still happy with her result.

“It was harder this year than last, but I am still happy because I felt I did my best in the race. I am looking forward to XTERRA Saipan next week,” said Carey, who thanked her family, friends, IT&E, Brabu, Bike Pro, Triple J, Salomon, Suunto, and Zoot for their support.