Rota ready for racers

Only a handful of days remain before a parade of triathletes experience one of the best races in the CNMI as the KFC Triathlon Club is bringing back the Rota Blue Triathlon KFC Triathlon Club this weekend.

KFC will be hosting the Rota Blue Olympic Distance Triathlon in association with the Marianas Visitors Authority this Saturday, Nov. 18, and this year they are bringing over 140 triathletes from Japan to compete in the dueling races.

According to organizers and traveling members of the Northern Mariana Islands Triathlon Federation, the 1.5km ocean swim, 40km rolling hills bike ride, and 10km run of the Rota race provide some of the most inspiring views throughout the CNMI while the will-testing Half Ironman distance race-consisting of a 2-kilometer swim, 90-km bike, and 21.1-km half marathon will melt the competitors.
Last year professional triathlete Taro Shirato of Japan bested the field of 70 multisport enthusiasts in the Commonwealth’s southernmost link in the Marianas chain to win the Olympic-distance race in a little over two hours.

A regular racer in the CNMI, Shirato completed the 1.5-kilometer swim, 40-km bike, and 10-km run course in an amazingly swift 2:11:35 and wasted little time getting ahead of the competition.
Shirato was the first out of the water after completing the nearly one-mile, open-water loop in 21:52, and raced through roughly 25-mile bike course with unequalled speed in 1:05:46, before crossing the finish line at the Rota Roundhouse with the second-fastest, six-mile run time of 43:57.
On the women’s side, Japanese sensation Airi Sawada posted the second fastest swim time of the day after circling the buoys in 23:23, finished the bike course four minutes behind Shirato in 1:09:46, and topped the champ by 26 seconds to complete the run in 43:31 for a total of 2:16:40.
Former Northern Mariana Islands Triathlon Federation standout Rob Carruth was the first local racer across the finish line and the second best finisher of the men’s division to by braving Rota’s heat in 2:37:29.

The Rota race topped the 100-participant mark as an additional 38 triathletes opted to test their physical and mental limits in the grueling Half-Ironman distance of the B Course. Once again 30-year-old Masayuki Matsumaru crushed the competition with a remarkable overall time of 4:18:27 at the close of the 2-km swim, 90-km bike, and 21.1-km half-marathon run course.
Chiyoko Nawa crossed the finish line about two hours later as the top female on Rota with an overall time of 6:14:14 with times of 1:00:33 on the swim, 3:11:15 on the bike, and 2:02:26 through the searing heat of the midday sun on the run.

There is still time to register for the race by submitting the $80 registration fee through Onishi-san at KFC triathlon via email to kfc-onishi@gem.hi-ho-ne.jp. For more information about the race, contact Frank Tudela at the MVA by calling 664-3210 or visit http://www.gem.hi-ho.ne.jp/kfc-onishi%20/.