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Japanese couple rules Rota Blue
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- Saipan’s Manny Sitchon celebrates his finish. (Contributed Photo)
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- Marianas Visitors Authority’s Martin Duenas, second left, joins one of the Rota Blue Triathlon winners, left, and Rota officials and volunteers for a group photo during the awards ceremony last Saturday. (Contributed Photo)
The husband-and-wife tandem of Masayuki and Hiromi Matsumaru ruled the men’s and women’s divisions of the 23rd Rota Blue Triathlon’s long course.
The long course featured a shortened swim of 500 meters (from 1.9-kilometer), 90K bike, and 21K run around the pristine backdrop of the CNMI’s southernmost island last Saturday. Race organizers decided to shorten the swim leg due to rough waters for the safety of all the participants from Japan, Korea, Saipan, and Rota.
Masayuki had split times of 7:07 in the swim, 2:18:15 in the bike, and 1:29:55 in the bike for a total of 3:55:17, giving him a 30-minute win over South Korea’s Sung Jo Yoo’s 4:54:24:46 (11:18, 2:29:28, 2:13:38). Another Japanese, Katsuhiko Hara, finished third overall with 15:55, 2:58:27, and 1:42:46 in the swim, bike, run legs for a combined time of 4:57:08.
Hiromi, meanwhile, bested two bets from South Korea to win the women’s division. She logged a combined of 4:28:46 with a 10:01 swim and was a bit slow in the bike at 2:40:05, but made up for her lost time in the run after posting 1:38:40. South Koreans Yeojin Yang (13:55, 2:57:54, 2:04:13) and Eunna Kim (15:33, 3:07:21, 3:22:54) finished second and third with times of 5:16:02 and 5:39:43, respectively.
Tsukasa Hirano and Keiki Nakakarumai made it another double celebration for Japan in the men’s and women’s short course—shortened swim from 1.5 kilometer to 500 meters, 40K bike, and 10K run.
Hirano defeated compatriots Hideya Miyazuka, who is one of the legendary triathletes in Japan, and Ken Takahasi. Hirano completed the swim in 6:14, the bike in 1:08:11, and the run in 43:13 for a total time of 1:57:38 or almost three minutes ahead of the 53-year-old Miyazuka’s 2:00:36 (8:27, 1:08:10, and 43:59). Takahashi came in at third at 2:23:39 (10:50, 1:16:07, 56:42).
Nakakarumai logged times of 11:35, 1:25:36, and 54:12 in the swim-bike-run legs for a total of 2:31:23 to win by almost eight minutes against compatriot Ai Handa’s 2:39:03 (12:39, 1:29:01, 57:23). Saipan’s Heather Brook was the third overall female finisher at 2:39:58 (14:27, 1:33:51, 51:40).
