Tagaman gets continued support from Continental

As the list of sponsors for the 16th Annual Tagaman Triathlon continues to grow, the organizers of this year’s edition of the endurance challenge are quick to welcome their new supporters to the team, but Continental has stepped up to the plate to help provide one of the most exciting prizes for the 2nd Annual Saipan Sports Festival.

In the beginning, Continental put together teams of athletes to compete in the Tagaman in the relay format, but has since upped the ante as the winners from last year’s event were awarded complimentary tickets to come back and compete this year.

This time out, Olivier Marceau and Jamie Whitmore will take advantage of the free transportation to defend their title in the 2005 XTERRA Saipan Championship and Tagaman.

“And we’re also doing the tickets for the winners again this year, in addition to bringing the media out, providing shirts, and a bunch of other items. We’re also advertising the event by sending out the registrations forms and fliers to all of the destinations that we serve to try and get more participation for the race, and in turn more tourism to the island,” said Continental’s Saipan station manager Ivan Quichocho.

Continental has come a long way from the days when they sent participants to the Commonwealth to participate in the Tagaman, but Quichocho stressed that the island community has everything to gain when everyone gets involved.

“It’s important that we come out and support these kinds of events because they do attract visitors, secondly it’s been an ongoing event that’s been posted on the www.mymarianas.com website and we need to make sure that it’s successful so that visitors can count on this kind of stuff coming in every year. We like to give back to the community and this is one way of doing that, and on the same token it helps us promote our product and destinations and we feel good about it,” said Quichocho.

Continental Micronesia has been a sponsor of Tagaman since the very beginning, and Quichocho continued to explain the importance of being part of a team that benefits everyone interested in improving the tourism industry in the CNMI.

“It’s a good event that promotes a healthy lifestyle, and promotes what Saipan has to offer—an outdoor destination that has sun, sand, and the pathway. It’s a good product for the island, and we need to stand behind it,” he said.