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Saipan triathletes among Rota Blue finishers
Saipan finishers, from left, Heather Brook, Claire Seelinger Devey, Manny Sitchon, and Ricky Castro enjoy a light moment after conquering the grueling course in the 23rd Rota Blue Triathlon held last Saturday. (Contributed Photo)
Saipan bets also completed the grueling course of last Saturday’s 23rd Rota Blue Triathlon with familiar faces winning in their respective divisions.
Manny Sitchon was the lone representative from Saipan that joined the long course and placed second behind Kazuei Murayama of Japan in the men’s over 60 age group. The 62-year-old Murayama was 13th overall and topped his age group after clocking in at 13:41 in the shortened swim course, 3:02:35 in the bike, and 2:36:02 in the bike for a total of 5:52:18. Sitchon, who is two years younger than Murayama, came in second at 6:06:53. He timed in at 13:05 in the swim, which was the fourth fastest but lagged behind in the bike (3:16:45), and was just a minute behind Murayama in the run after recording 2:37:03.
Nobuyuki Kamagata, 61, also of Japan rounded out the Top 3 with a combined time of 6:13:53 (16:25 swim, 3:06:33 bike, and 2:50:55 run).
Florence Antonio, meanwhile, led Saipan finishers in the short course after placing seventh overall at 2:32:14, while Paul Plunkett ruled the over 50 division with his 2:34:55. Rota’s Malcolm Johnson topped the U30 division as the 28-year-old logged 2:39:53. Heather Brook (2:39:58) was the third best in the women’s open, while Claire Seelinger Devey (2:50:34) came in at fourth, and Ricky Castro (2:51:50) placed second in the men’s over 40.
In other results, Japan’s Yuki Taniguchi (5:45:26), Daisuke Sato (5:50:14), and Takahiro Sha (5:48:28) ruled the over 30, 40, and 50 age groups.
Satoshi Oda (6:21:45) and Ryota Ito (6:32:50) completed the Top 3 in the men’s over 30, while Hiromu Shimada (6:28:02) and Tetsu Kurusu (6:52:11) joined Sha in the podium in the over 40 division. Haruka Ota (female over 30, 6:54:10), Kazuhide Iwasaki (male over 50, 6:55:22), and Takeshi Izyuin (male over 50, 7:01:49) were the other age group finishers.
