Moment of truth for XTERRA pros

It will be the moment of truth for the 13 professional triathletes as they challenge the punishing course today in the 8th XTERRA Saipan Championships.

The race will start at 6am with the 1,500-meter swim in the waters of Micro Beach.

From there, the bike heads up to Navy Hill over to Wireless Road and down to Talofofo through Egigi Drive and Bananarama.

The bikers will climb up to Mount Tapochao then go down again through Navy Hill via Chinatown and to Beach Road and back to Micro Beach.

For the run, they will leave Micro Beach through Anaks going up above Garapan and down to Navy Hill and pass through the caves in the Chinatown Ravine.

Through Chinatown, the runners will head down to the beach just north of the Fishing Base and all the way back to the Micro Beach for the finish line.

Today’s race is expected to be one of the closest in the history of the XTERRA Saipan, both in the men’s and women’s divisions.

The world-class field includes Julie Dibens of Great Britain, the two-time XTERRA Maui world champion who is coming back to challenge four-time XTERRA Saipan title-holder Renata Bucher of Switzerland.

Dibens’ losses came against Bucher, a.k.a. Little Swiss Miss, who beat the Brit in France in 2007 and on Saipan in 2008.

Out to challenge the dynamic duo is American Shonny Vanlanginham, who won the U.S. XTERRA Championship last year.

The Saipan series is heavily weighted toward the bike and Vanlandingham will definitely use her lofty billing as a 15-time champion in the National Off-Road Bicycle Association.

Saipan resident Mieko Carey of Japan, who is competing in her second year as a pro, will use her familiarity of the course to stage the biggest surprise.

In the men’s side, Mike Vine of Canada, the inaugural XTERRA Saipan winner back in 2002, is back to see if his magic still applies in the tropics. He’ll have some stiff competition from last year’s champ Aussie Andrew Noble, who won the PIC Double last year by winning both the local XTERRA and long-running Tagaman races.

England’s Sam Gardner and Jimmy McConnel will return to try and unseat Noble and stay in front of Vine.

Gardner won last week’s Guam race and XTERRA Japan in 2008.

Germany’s Euro Tour racer Sasha Wingenfeld is making his first attempt at Saipan along with Philippine champion Arland Macasieb, now living in New Jersey, and Ulli Katzer of Austria.

Longtime XTERRA competitor Taro Shirato will join along with Takahiro Ogasawara who has finished second twice in Japan.

For the past seven years, the total number of pros competing on Saipan was 45, including the three newcomers this year.

Except for Jim Vance of the USA, all five others pros who competed last year are returning including Bucher, Carey, Noble, Ogasawara, and Shirato.