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XTERRA Saipan to draw around 100 athletes
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Posted on Mar 14 2012
Taga Inc. president Wolf Mojica said about 100 athletes are expected to compete in next week’s 2012 XTERRA Saipan Championship.
“We have around 50 now and these exclude local athletes. We expect the number to reach 100 next week,” Mojica said.
Local athletes have until March 21 to register for the March 24 event, which will have two courses—the XTERRA Championship and XTERRA Sports.
The XTERRA Championship will feature pro athletes, including former champions Olivier Marceau and Renata Bucher, first-timers Jacqui Slack, Cedric Lassonde and Graham Wadsworth of United Kingdom, and Ben Allen of Australia, and returnees Denison Freitas of Brazil, Takahiro Ogasawara of Japan, and Carina Wasle of Australia.
These pros are now in the Philippines for the second leg of XTERRA Asia Tour’s “Triple Crown” and will complete the trifecta next Saturday when they compete in XTERRA’s Crown Jewel. XTERRA Philippines will be held this Saturday and the first batch of pros will be arriving on Saipan on Tuesday.
Allen and Marceau will be the triathletes to watch in XTERRA Saipan and Philippines after their 1-2 finish in XTERRA Guam. Though Allen (2:29:42) finished ahead of Marceau (2:33:22) in last weekend’s XTERRA Guam, the latter will have a slight advantage in the Saipan leg next week due to his familiarity with the course. The Swiss won XTERRA Saipan for four straight years (2004-2007) before missing the event from 2008 to 2011.
In the women’s division, Renata Bucher hopes to regain the championship she lost to Shonny Vanlandingham last year. Bucher won XTERRA Guam against Wasle and Slack, who was in the lead after the swim leg and in the first few kilometers of the bike race before a wrong turn cost her to lose about 10 minutes in the second leg.
Saipan pro Mieko Carey also joined XTERRA Guam and will be aiming to improve her fifth-placed finish in last year’s XTERRA Guam. Carey had early misfortunes in the bike leg during last year’s race. Other Saipan triathletes competing in XTERRA Championship are Lewie Tenorio, Butch Sublemente, Brian Morris, and Dawn Hammermeister.
