Ogo outdoes himself in DPS Triathlon

Patrick Ogo and Clinton O. Ngiraked finished one-two in the final event of the Police Week celebration early Saturday morning, in the first ever Department of Public Safety Triathlon.

Ogo was the first to cross the finish line with an overall time of 1:15:45. Ogo was the only one of the racers that planned to swim, bike and run when Saipan’s finest gathered at Civic Center Beach to compete in event.

Relay teams consisting of members of the Department of Public Safety, Commonwealth Ports Authority, and CNMI Department of Customs were scheduled to swim, cycle, and run in support of their fallen brothers at 7am, but it didn’t quite happen that way.

For the first running of the triathlon, there were over 20 relay teams entered, according to the chairman of the Sports Committee for Police Week, Officer Danny Punimata, but due to the many activities going on around the island, far fewer showed up.

Commissioner of the DPS Edward Camacho said that the Commonwealth Ports Authority was to have a relay team, but with the USS Vincennes in town, they needed all of their officers at the docks. The Department of Customs along with a large contingent of firemen and police officers were also entered in the event, but had been involved in the March Against Cancer at Hopwood Junior High School Friday night and were too tired to compete.

By the time 0700 rolled around on Saturday morning, there were only four entrants at the beach. Andrea Ozawa, Patrick Ogo, Jesse Mesa, and Clinton O. Ngiraked were ready for the challenge. They were only planning to do a portion of the triathlon, with the exception of Ogo who planned to do the whole thing.

In the spirit of peace officers everywhere, the four that showed up to do one job took the challenge of doing three, and competed in the full triathlon.

The commissioner decided to join the event as well, raising the total number of early morning racers to five.

The racers moved down to the water’s edge where, after a brief course orientation, the commissioner dedicated the event to a fallen comrade, former officer Eddie Chen.

When the whistle sounded, all five entered the water and swam out to the first tank. With none of them having trained for the full event, the commissioner decided to shorten the swim portion to the first, rather than the original course’s second tank.

First out of the water was Lt. Jesse Mesa, representing DPS Fire. Mesa made the transition to the bicycle, and was off and pedaling. Fellow DPS Fire representatives Ngiraked and Ogo quickly followed him.

Zero-zero was the next out of the water followed by Officer Andrea Ozawa of DPS Traffic.

As the cyclists made their way north to the turn at Station Two in Garapan, there was a lead change made by Ogo and Ngiraked as they passed by Mesa.

Within a few meters of the transition point to the run, Ogo narrowly avoided a crash when he had difficulty with his bicycles braking system.

The duo dropped of their bikes at the same time, but it was Ogo who got off and running first. Ngiraked took a little extra time with his footwear, and Mesa, who came in after both of them, actually got started on the run in second place.

Just a few minutes back, Camacho traded in his road bike for some water and headed north towards the Quartermaster tank.

Mesa recalled that on his trip north, he saw Ogo heading south. “When he was running he was smiling, and I was suffering,” laughed the lieutenant.

Ogo would smile the rest of his way to a first place finish with an overall time of 1:15:45 in the first ever event.

As an added bonus, Ogo won the commissioner’s mountain bike. Before the race, commissioner Camacho lent him the bike and said that if Ogo won the event that he could keep it. Ogo also won an Ironman brand backpack, while Ngiraked won a camelback for his second place finish (1:24:17).

Mesa came in third with a time of 1:26:10, followed by Camacho at 1:31:08. Officer Ozawa was hampered by leg cramps throughout the race but still managed to finish all three stages in less than two hours (1:58:07). “I wasn’t training for this at all. I was only going to do the bike.”

“This is just a start,” said Camacho. “This will definitely get bigger and eventually this will be open to the public.”

In 1962, President John F. Kennedy signed House Joint Resolution 730 which designated May 15 a Peace Officers Memorial Day and the week in which it falls as “Police Week”.