SSC swimmers lead teams to relay wins

Saipan Swim Club swimmers Kento Akimaru and Victoria Chentsova suited up for different teams and helped their respective squads win in the relay races of last Saturday’s 2012 XTERRA Saipan Championship.

Akimaru teamed up with biker Bob Ferrer and runner John Jenkins and the trio ruled the XTERRA Sport, while Chentsova joined forces with Russ Quinn, and Yosh Gabaldon in topping the XTERRA Championship.

Akimaru was first out of the water in XTERRA Sport, completing one lap of the course (750 meters) in 8:57, about five minutes ahead of former SSC swimmer Benjamin Babauta (who teamed up with his father Ben) and 13 seconds faster that XTERRA Sports solo top finisher Kaisei Toda (9:11).

Ferrer picked up where Akimaru left off in the bike leg, as the veteran rider finished the 20-kilometer bike race in 1:23:36, the best time among 14 bikers and 17 minutes ahead of Toda.

With Ferrer stretching their team’s lead to more than 20 minutes against Babauta’s, Jenkins had the luxury of taking his time in the 5-km run leg from Micro Beach to the Anak’s driveway and back. Jenkins completed the run leg at the 22:14 (third best) for his team’s combined time of 1:55:42, which was about 48 minutes ahead of the Babautas (2:43:41). Ben Babauta did both the bike and run legs of XTERRA Sport and timed in at 2:00:22 and 27:52, respectively.

Team Manatee’s Jim Arenovski, Mark Blackburn, and Steve Nutting, rounded out the Top 3 with a combined time of 3:11:16. Arenovski was 10th out of the water with his 15:00, Blackburn submitted 2:25:45 in the bike (No. 13 overall), and Nutting posted 29:03 (No. 12) in the run leg.

In the Championship course, Chentsova timed in at 18:52 in the 1.5-km swim leg, the sixth best time among 65 swimmers and faster than six pros, including eventual women’s champion Renata Bucher (20:23), third placer Carina Wasle (20:57), and fourth finisher Mieko Carey (19:18).

In the 32-km bike leg, Quinn logged 2:05:46 (second fastest in relay and No. 34 overall) to keep the team’s lead (about two minutes) against Guam’s Jackly Goodwin (swimmer/24:01) and biker James Sardea (2:02:38).

For the final leg of the race, Gabaldon ensured the win for Saipan bets when he clocked in at 1:11:32 in the 12-km run for the team’s total time of 3:37:25. Goodwin and Sardea’s teammate, Michele Madantschi, recorded 1:20:28 in the run leg for their combined time of 3:48:46.

XTERRA returnees Julia Lendavi and Allan Collinson of Australia and Saipan’s Ric Antonio completed the Top 3 with a time of 4:17:32. Collinson did the swim leg (21:22), Antonio worked on the bike race (2:19:57), and Lendavi was the finisher, timing in at 1:34:41.

Three other teams joined the relay: Florence Antonio, Cesar Fortaleza, and Danny Garcia (4:23:40); Daniel Calvo, Rommel Tiosejo, and Chang Whan Jang (4:38:01); and Rachel Zuercher, Max Simian, and Roxie Lamar (4:46:10).