Santos, Miller feast to 1st place finish in Turkey Trot

An abundance of fog, cold, rain, and mud was counteracted by the abundance of thanks, smiles through the pain, family time, and the chance for a free turkey for the over 140 early Thanksgiving morning runners of the Northern Marianas Athletics’ Mt. Tapochau Turkey Trot 2024.

Emerging to be one of the fastest runners in Saipan—high school junior Victor Nash Santos—gobbled up the 4.2-mile uphill trek up the highest peak with a time of 40:19 and was rewarded with a turkey for his efforts.

Meanwhile, Akiko Miller was the fastest woman with a time of 45 minutes flat.

The 16-year-old Santos, who was also first place last year, said that this year’s race was harder. “I’ve started playing soccer a little bit and my ankle has been really hurting and just being able to push through this is a blessing.”

As to why he woke up early on Thanksgiving Day to join the race again, he said he wanted to come back and try to defend his title. He also said, “I love this uphill environment. I feel like it’s really challenging and helps you mentally and physically. It’s just a good challenge for me and I enjoy it.”

With what he’s grateful for this year, he said, “First I want to say I’m grateful for Jesus Christ for giving me the privilege to run, compete, and being able to finish, and for also helping me through everything this year. I am also grateful for my family for always being there for me to support me and my friends for making my life a lot better and for just being a part of my life!”

For 55-year-old Miller, she said that it’s probably her second time to join the annual race. She said she wanted to join for fun and “I want to eat a lot of turkey tonight so I need to exercise.”

The course, she said, was so tough. “I usually run on flat ground so I never trained for uphill—it’s so hard… the 4K point was so hard.” But despite the early morning showers and cold weather, she said it did not deter her from joining the race.

She then gave thanks to Northern Marianas Athletics, Run Saipan, and all volunteers. “They were hard working for us to organize the race and help the runners,” she said.

The 2024 Turkey Trot is sponsored by Run Saipan, Joeten Enterprises, IT&E CNMI, Triple J Group of Companies, MARPAC, and Saipan Vegas Resort.

The rest of the Top 3 in the men’s and women’s divisions along with the age group winners will be published in the next issue of Saipan Tribune.