Saipan Tribune

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Back-to-back for Lewie

Saipan's Lewie Tenorio notched his second straight age group victory in the 2013 XTERRA Saipan Championship, finishing last Saturday's race way ahead of his closest pursuer.

Tenorio, who won the 40 to 44 age group of last year's race by only one minute and three seconds against Japan's Nobuhiro Koizumi, this time came at the finish line at the American Memorial Park about 17 minutes ahead of his rival after clocking in at 4:13:57. Guam's Mark Cruz was a distant second with his 4:30:46, while Saipan's Peter Prestly rounded out the Top 3 after submitting 5:51:30.

Tenorio was 26th overall among more than 50 finishers and had split times of 41:25 in the 1.5-kilometer swim leg in the waters of Micro Beach, 2:12:13 in the 32K bike race, and 1:20:19 in the 12K run.

Joining Tenorio in the age group champions list were Charlie Epperson, De Un Den, Aleksandr Dorovskikh, Charlie Sendin, David Spelger, David Desantis, Manny Sitcon, Allan Moore, and G.L. Brown.

Epperson was the first non-pro finisher in the weekend event and also topped the 35 to 39 age group. He completed the tough race in 3:18:07 with split times of 26:44, 1:51:58, and 59:25. Epperson was the lone entry on his age group to finish the bike race under two hours and the run leg under one hour. He was also the only one in his division to complete the race under four hours, as runner-up William Escobar posted 4:55:55 and Brian Flaherty and Brad Ruzsala recorded 5:47:02 and 6:07:04, respectively.

Sendin also broke the four-hour barrier with his 3:49:22 (39:22, 2:02:19, and 1:07:41) to win the 30 to 34 age group against Guam's Michael Stewart (4:15), Japan's Keisuke Hirano (4:31:08), and the Philippines' Hector Yuzon (5:16:13) and Rafael Jose Zamora (5:16:13).

Dorovskikh was the second overall non-pro finisher and reigned in the 25 to 29 age group after checking in at the 3:19:51 mark. He was nearly 50 minutes ahead of Japan's Arikasa Yoshinori (4:07:53) and more than one hour faster than aipan's Eric Coooke (5:39:17) and another Japanese bet, Ozeki Junichi (5:50:32).

Spelger of the U.S. beat hometown bet Tyce Mister in the 45 to 49 age group with the former timing in at 3:50:59 against the latter's 4:11:33. Completing the field were Tetsuya Sugimori (4:19:30), Kenji Sakurai (4:33:18), Toshihisa Abe (4:55:31), and Noel Altamirano (5:02:27).

In the 50 to 54 age group, Desantis defeated six others after logging 3:50:59. He prevailed over Mark Walters (4:01:07), Masahito Animochi (4:05:15), Makoto Kayatama (4:55:43), Shiro Sato (5:04:23), Florence Antonio (5:15:45), and Stephen Cochran (6:00:43).

Sitchon (5:36:08/55 to 59 age group), Moore (4:41:42/60 to 64), Brown (6:11:55/65 to 69), and De Un Den (3:27:52/20 to 24) were the lone entry in their respective division.

Three female participants also got outright first place with Ayshalynn Perez (4:55:59) winning in the 20 to 24 division, Peri Gray (3:45:02) ruling the 30 to 34 category, and Erin Johnson (5:33:20) topping the 35 to 39 age group. Saipan's Kaitlon Mattos completed the winners circle in the women's division after her 5:19:50 defeated the 5:40:39 of Japan's Kyoko Majima.

Meanwhile, results of the relay races and sports course will be reported later this week.