Saipan Tribune

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Thursday, February 07, 2013

3 more newcomers in XTERRA Saipan

Three more visiting triathletes will debut in next month's 2013 XTERRA Saipan Championship.

The list includes New Caledonia's David Esposito and the Philippines' Hector Yuzon and Raffy Zamora and they will be joining fellow newcomers Dan Hugo and Bradley Weiss, who are pros from South Africa and Scotland pro Rory Downie.

Among the three latest additions to the XTERRA Saipan's first-timers roster, Esposito has the most impressive resume, having won gold medals in the Pacific Mini Games and having competed in various races in Oceania.

The 39-year-old Frenchman took the gold medal in the men's division of the 2009 Pacific Mini Games in the Cook Islands and then teamed up with Laurent Barra and Erika Ellis in giving New Caledonia another gold medal.

Esposito also competed in the 2009 Dextro Energy Triathlon-ITU World Championship Grand Final in Gold Coast, Australia and finished 20th in his age group. In 2006, he raced in the Canberra ITU Long Distance Triathlon World Championships and was ranked No. 15 in his age group.

Meanwhile, the two Filipino bets participated in the XTERRA World Championship in Maui, Hawaii and also joined the inaugural XTERRA Philippines, which is the first stop of the XTERRA Asian Tour.

Yuzon had his debut in XTERRA World last year and completed the 1.5-kilometer swim, 30.4K bike race, and 9.5K run in 4:46:21. He was the 48th finisher (No. 563 overall) in his age group 30-34. Yuzon was a member of the five-man XTERRA Philippine Team that also includes Philippine celebrities Drew Arellano and Matteo Guidicelli, coach Noy Jopson, and Redg Plopinio.

Zamora missed the cut for the 2012 XTERRA Philippines Team, but made it to the XTERRA World first in 2011. He clocked in at 4:30:19 and placed 51st in his age group (30 to 34) and 514th overall.

Yuzon and Zamora will be the second and third triathlete who hail from the Philippines to compete in XTERRA Saipan. In 2009, Filipino pro Arland Macasieb joined the championship course and finished 17th overall with a time of 3:30:37. The bronze medalist in the 2005 Manila Southeast Asian Games also joined Tagaman the same year and timed in at 3:11:31 to complete the PIC Double in fourth place overall.

Meanwhile, registrations for both XTERRA and Tagaman are on-going. To sign up, log-on to www.saipansports.com and send inquiries to bradinthesand96950@yahoo.com.