Wasle wins Tagaman Triathlon

Austria’s Carina Wasle raises her arms in triumph after winning in last Saturday’s Tagaman Triathlon.
(ROSELYN B. MONROYO)

Austrian pro Carina Wasle had another first, winning her Half Ironman debut in last Saturday’s Tagaman Triathlon.

Wasle, who bagged her first XTERRA Saipan crown two weeks ago, added the Tagaman feather to her cap, after emerging as the first female finisher in the brutal race with a time of 4:45:24. She survived a tough challenge from the Philippines’ Monica Torres in the 21K run leg, cutting the tape just 25 seconds ahead of the latter.

“It was like a never-ending run. It was tougher than I thought and the heat was so bad,” said Wasle, who had to look back several times to check on Torres.

Wasle had about a five-minute lead against Torres after the bike leg. She posted 24:40 in the 1.9-kilometer swim leg in the waters off Micro Beach against the 29:28 of Torres. In the lung-busting 90K bike race, Torres was faster by four seconds against Wasle with the former recording 2:40:16 versus the latter’s 2:40:20.

“By the time I reached the transition 2 area, I looked at my watch and I knew I am still in a good position,” said Torres, who managed to overtake the then second-running Mieko Carey a few meters after the turnaround at PIC.

“It was extremely hot, but I am used to this kind of condition in the Philippines. I tried pushing hard to catch up with Carina, but each time I moved closer, she was also getting closer to the finish line,” said Torres, who entered the American Memorial Park compound just a few meters away from Wasle
Wasle was aware of Torres’ presence and gave one final push en route to close the Saipan Sportsfest with back-to-back wins.

“I am very relieved to win Tagaman for the first time. Doing Half Ironman was tougher than XTERRA, but I am glad I tried it and won. The swim and bike leg were long and I just hang in there before pushing in the run leg,” said Wasle, who had a split time of 1:40:24 in the run leg.
Torres also took it slow in the swim leg because she was unfamiliar with the condition and was later amazed with the shallow and very clear waters off PIC. She was also awed by the scenic bike course, especially down the Marpi area and then went all out in the run leg with her 1:36:07 for a total time of 4:45:51.

Torres was ahead by more than eight minutes against Carey, who started to cramp past the halfway mark of the run leg.

“I just did not want to push myself harder when I felt that pain in my legs. The season is still long,” said Carey, who was first out of the water with her 23:27 and was still a few seconds ahead of Wasle and Torres when she made it to the bike-run transition area after submitting 2:41:26 in the bike leg.

Wasle then caught up with the Guam pro before they headed out of AMP and the latter went on to settle for third place after clocking in at 1:49:07 in the run leg.

Completing the Top 5 in the women’s field were Korea National Team member Yunjung Jang (5:34:21) and Saipan’s Kimiko McKagan (6:03:39). The Korean bet was first out of the water in the women’s field after timing in at 21:22, but had a bad crash at Banzai Cliff. She sustain bad cuts on her left arm, but gallantly finished the bike leg and the entire race with split times of 3:17:04 and 1:55:55

Korean tops men’s field
Jang’s teammate on the Korean National Team, Ju Seoj Kim, had a smooth sailing in the weekend race to rule the men’s field.

The 25-year-old Kim completed the race in 4:15:59, more than eight minutes ahead of Russia’s Aleksandr Dorovskih (4:24:16). Kim, who is preparing for the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon, Korea this September, was first out of the water and the lone participant to complete the two-lap race under 20 minutes (19:47). He then had split times of 2:24:07 and 1:32:05 in the bike and run legs, respectively.

“I had a good race. I love the water and the bike course. The toughest was the run leg because I am not used to running in a very hot condition,” said Kim, who was in a close fight against Dorovskikh after the bike leg, but pulled away in the last part of the race.

Dorovskikh, who beat Kim in the bike with his 2:15:54, was more than eight minutes behind the latter in the run race after submitting 1:40:47. Joining the two in the Top 6 were Guam’s Cameron O’Neal (5:04:06) and David Torre (5:10:03) and Saipan’s Tyce Mister (5:13:15) and Butch Sublemente (5:27:24).