Marianas Outrigger Club sweeps slalom V6

The men of Marianas Outrigger Club pose with their gold medals after winning the V6 men’s division of the Northern Marianas National Paddling Sports Federation Va’a Slalom Race V6/V1 series at the Kilili Beach in Susupe last Saturday.(LEIGH GASES)

CNMI paddlers took to the Kilili Beach in Susupe on a sun-splashed Saturday for the finale of the Northern Marianas National Paddling Sports Federation Va’a Slalom Race V6/V1 series.

In the women’s and men’s division of the Slalom V6, Marianas Outrigger Club out paddled the other paddling clubs for the top spots from the total points of their three races from last May 20 and June 3.

MOC Black garnered the most points and were the only team above 100 points with 120; second was Saipan Paddling Club Women with 75 points; MOC Orange claimed third with 63 points; Marianas Paddling Club took fourth place with 40 points; and fifth was MPP Blue with 35 points.

MOC 1 men took a close first place with 110 points; while SPC A settled for second place with 100 points; third was SPC B with 58 points; and MOC II was fourth with 26 points.

Diane Demapan of the women’s MOC team said that the finals was very intense. “We’re very proud of all the women that came out and competed and especially our V1 competitor, Pipit Ball. Congratulations to all the women that race,” she said. 

The women of the Marianas Outrigger Club pose with their gold medals after winning the V6 women’s division of the Northern Marianas National Paddling Sports Federation Va’a Slalom Race V6/V1 series at the Kilili Beach in Susupe last Saturday.(LEIGH GASES)

About the race series as a whole, she said “We’ve been practicing twice a week, so the competition was pretty intense. I’ve paddled over the years so I see more women coming out. It’s really overwhelming for me to see that more and more working moms, professionals, and just business women from all walks of life are just coming in to compete here in the waters.”

With this race series the first of their paddling season and preparation for the Pacific Games in November, Demapan said that their goal is to be able to compete internationally with other countries. “Based on our [race] times and the hard work that and just the tools and knowledge that we’ve learned from other teams and our coaches and our leader, I think we’re ready to compete internationally.”

On what was the toughest part of the competition, she said that it was keeping up with the other teams. Their MOC team has a lot of young paddlers, but she said that “competition is a good thing for everybody, especially paddlers and for anybody competing in organized sports, so I think it was good.”

Results of V1 men’s and women’s division will be posted in the next issues of Saipan Tribune.