Rezne-led team tops XTERRA Saipan relay

The Rezne Wong-led team did it, again, topping the relay race in the 8th Annual XTERRA Saipan Championship Saturday.

Wong, along with biker Rene Calage and runner Matthew Mancao, logged a total time of three hours, 29 minutes, and 18 seconds in the in 1-km swim leg, 30-km bike, and 10-km run to beat five other squads in the relay division of XTERRA Championship.

Wong and Calage also won last year’s race with Ronald Villafria as their runner. The trio clocked 3:40:49 in 2008.

The 2008 Swimming World Championship veteran Wong was impressive anew in the waters off Micro Beach, finishing on top of the field with his time of 17:27 and shattering his 2008 mark of 19:13.

Wong defeated eventual runner-up Julie Dibens (17:41), 2008 winner Andrew Noble (17:42), and German pro Sasha Wingerfeld (17:51).

In fifth and sixth places in the swim leg were Wong’s teammate in the Tsunami Swimming Center Saipan—Kai Staal (18:18) and Cooper Graf (18:59). Staal and Graf finished ahead of 10 other pros, including 2009 champions Sam Gardner (20:20) and Renata Bucher (20:36).

In the bike leg, Calage was 32nd among 72 riders, but was third in the relay with his time of 2:07:13.

Mancao capped the team’s record-breaking finish after submitting 1:03:26 in the run leg. The Marianas High School middle distance runner was 10th overall and second in the relay.

Jack “Road Runner Bunny” Kabiriel was first in the run in the relay division with his time of 1:02:21. But he and teammates Florence Antonio and Andrew Buitrago finished only third overall. Antonio clocked in at 2:10:33 in the bike leg, while Buitrago timed in at 19:02 in the swim portion for a total time of 3:33:02.

Graf, Cesar Fortaleza, and Cooper Schrauderback were runner-ups with their total time of 3:29:26. Fortaleza submitted 2:05:37 in the bike portion, while Schrauderback recorded 1:03:37 in the run part.

The team of Staal, biker Mario Galang, who was first in the bike in the relay with his 2:02:11, and runner Jerry Diaz placed fourth with their total time of 3:37:51.

Villafria did the bike portion of the race this time, while teammate Shogo Ando took the swim and run parts en route to a fifth place finish (4:09:37), while the trio of Joshua Berger (28:26), Dave Burger (2:56:35), and John Douglas (1:11:48) finished sixth with a total time of 4:38:20.

In the individual division, 15 earned slots to this year XTERRA World Championships in Maui, Hawaii after topping their respective age groups.

The list included Federico Fernandez (15 to 19, 4:19:05), Quincy Johnson (20 to 24, 4:23:37), Keita Takahashi (25 to 29, 3:34:31), Masato Samata (30-34, 3:30:48), Butch Sublemente (35 to 39, 3:32:06), Dai Matsui (40 to 44, 3:42:54), Tatsuya Sugimori (45 to 49, 3:51:15), and Florian Braig (55 to 59, 4:11:56); women’s Rina Tabuchi (20 to 24, 5:24:24), Mayuka Fujiwara (25 to 29, 5:19:01), Tomoyo Shibata (30 to 34, 4:15:31), Mai Chiku ( 35 to 29, 5:27:20), Eri Kondo (40 to 44, 4:25:43), and Dawn Hammermeister (45 to 49, 4:55:23).