Three in a row for Sendin

Charlie Sendin crosses the road to get to the American Memorial Park compound during the run leg of last Saturday’s XTERRA Saipan Championship. (Jon Perez)

Charlie Sendin was ranked first among the Saipan finishers in last Saturday’s 2016 XTERRA Saipan Championship, earning the distinction for the third straight year.

The diminutive triathlete timed in at 3:28:12 in the 1.5-kilometer swim, 30K bike, and 12K trail run to lead Saipan finishers and rule the 30 to 34 age group. He smoked the competition, as his closest pursuer in the age group—Simone Vacchelli of Italy—completed the off-road course in 3:41:00. Japan’s Akitomo Konno and Saipan’s Jacob Winegardner rounded out the division after submitting 3:52:22 and 4:141:14, respectively.

Sendin’s time in last weekend’s race was his second fastest in XTERRA Saipan since debuting in the annual event in 2013 (3:49:22) and also second in the non-pro division behind United Kingdom’s Dave Spence (3:26:07). His best time was in 2014 when he logged 3:21:18, which was the fastest among Saipan finishers and the entire non-pro field. Last year, Sendin was also the fastest Saipan finisher with his 3:27:50, which was the second best among the non-pro ranks behind Canada’s Charles Fortier (3:23:21).

The 32-year-old took the top honors in his age group despite falling behind Vacchelli after the two-lap swim leg in the shallow waters off Micro Beach. Sendin posted 19:02 against the 18:57 of the Italian triathlete, but the former quickly grabbed the upper hand in the bike leg after recording 1:52:44 versus the latter’s 1:56:42. Sendin went on to keep his safe lead in the final leg, as he timed in at 1:16:26 in the trail run against Vacchelli’s 1:25:21.

Meanwhile, Enfeng Wang, Jacob Johnson, Ryan Snow, Furuya Toshiyuki, Rick Leone, Spence, Cole, and Alan Moore were the other top age group finishers.

Moore ruled the 65 to 69 division after clocking in at 4:33:57 with split times of 19:30, 2:22:51, and 1:51:36. He won over Masahi Ando (6:06:38) and G.I. Brown (6:32:56). Wang and Cole, on the other hand, were the only entries in the 15 to 19 and 60 to 64 divisions and registered 5:01:51 and 4:52:31, respectively.

In the 55 to 59 age group, Spence had split times of 17:58, 1:56:38, and 1:27:13 to place ahead of Yuji Ono (3:33:17 and split times of 18:03, 1:54:14, and 1:21:00) and Alex Oviedo (4:41:49 and split times of 23:09, 2:39:33, and 1:39:37).

In the 45 to 49 division, Furuya broke the four-hour barrier (3:38:04) to prevail against Roger James Sardea (3:48:48), Tyce Mister (3:54:15), Hideaki Ikegame (4:19:48), Mark Isip (4:21:01), Mark Cruz (4:34:37), and Koichi Izhizu (4:35:54).

In the 40 to 44 age group, Snow won his one-one-one showdown against Yoshinori Makino as the former clocked in at 3:35:24 against the latter’s 4:37:33, while Kaisuke Hirano ruled the 35 to 29 age group, beating two others. Hirano submitted 4:00:15 to down Joel Phair (4:17:42) and Nathan Mapson (4:55:14).

There were also three competitors in the 50 to 54 age group with Leone leading the finishers with his 3:49:04. The Guam bet prevailed against Japan’s Tetsuya Sugimori (3:51:59) and Saipan’s Noel Altamirano (4:14:16).