Three-peat for Sublemente

  Butch Sublemente extended his reign in the Northern Passage after ruling yesterday’s MTB championship course against rivals Brian Morris and Lewie Tenorio.

The Pacific Islands Club employee completed the longest trail race of the day in 57 minutes to top the annual competition for the third straight time since the inaugural event in 2010 and foil another upset bid from Morris. Morris, who defeated Sublemente in Enticer 2 early this month, settled for a runner-up finish this time after clocking in at 58:41. Tenorio submitted 58:57 to round out the Top 3 in the men’s division.

Sublemente, Morris, and Tenorio were in the lead group that left the start/finish line in front of Mariana Resort and pedaled up to the Marianas Country Club. Then Morris and Sublemente were neck and neck up to the FEBC road before the latter managed to create some distance heading to Kimikaze trail.

“I kept pace with him past the halfway mark of the race, but when it was time to enter Kimikaze trail, I was alone. That was my plan, I had to be on the trail first and alone, as it is hard to maneuver the course if there are a lot of bikers,” Sublemente said.

“It was a tough race, as a lot of bikers are getting better after each event,” the three-time champion added.

Besides the FEBC road and Kimikaze trail, Sublemente and the rest of the MTB championship course riders also went through the Autobahn trail, paved road toward Grotto, Santati trail, coral road towards Cowtown, Banzai trail, Banzai Cliff, and then back to trail that led to the Marianas Country Club.

In the women’s division, Mieko Carey debuted in the Northern Passage with her field’s best time of 1:02:31.

“It was a good ride. The course was not slippery. It’s a good warm-up for XTERRA,” said Carey during a post race interview with event organizer Brad Ruszala.

Susan Marchitti joined Carey in the winners’ podium with the women’s division’s second best time of 1:27:58.

In the men’s rookie course division, Dencio Bautista (25:35), Michael Calibo (25:59) and Rommel Isidro (26:30) completed the Top 3, while Arnel Cruz (48:51), Erico Castro (48:53), and Rick Melchor (50:38) led winners in the sports course.

Other top winners were Kathy Ruszala (46:37) and Robyn Wondraseil (1:04:10) in the women’s rookie and sports courses, respectively.

In the new road race division, long course category, Nap Dizon cut the tape first at the 49:44 mark, less than a minute ahead of runner-up Antonee Aguilar (50:04). Ariel Garcia joined the in the Top 3 with his time of 52:36. The championship road course had riders heading out to the four corners-Suicide Cliff, Bird Island, Grotto, and Banzai Cliff-before returning to Mariana Resort for the finish.

In the rookie course (two corners), Ariel Lansangan won with a time of 38:19, while Bernard Laborce topped the sports course (three corners) after submitting 41:08.

In the women’s rookie division, Regina Sebial timed in at 57:30 to prevail against Esther Ada (59:10) and Juanita Fajardo (1:02:28).