Marianas Adventurists show no fear in GEAR5

The Saipan foursome of Russ Quinn, Stephan Samoyloff, Tyce Mister, and Nate Hawley out-kayaked, out-orienteered, and out-mountain biked the entire 11-team field of international competitors last weekend to win the Shell Guam Extreme Adventure Race Five.

Dubbed the Marianas Adventurists, the team from Saipan overcame a number of physical and mental obstacles last Saturday, May 14, to bridge the 71.5 miles of the Guam course to finally place first after four years of finishes near the top.

Competitors from Japan, Hong Kong, Saipan, and Guam answered the call of the GEAR5 challenge, but this year’s local delegation was not to be denied. Shell GEAR Race director James Oelke wasn’t surprised at the success from Guam’s neighbors to the north, and said that the local team’s experience finally paid off.

“Saipan has competed in this event since its inception and annually they have placed in the top five against teams that live and train on Guam. We always thought they would walk away with the top spot and this year proved to be their year. It was great to watch!” he said.

It may have been a difficult race to watch, as the course spanned miles and elevation that would make the average outdoorsman shudder.

At the start of the race, the teams ran north from Ypao Beach in the center of the Tumon until they turned into the jungle and were tasked with a large cavern descent to find the code word “Buenas” that was hidden in it’s deepest section. With code in hand, they returned to Ypao Beach to relay it to race organizers so they could begin the next leg.

The journey to the second checkpoint at the Hagatna Boat Basin split the teams into two. One pair mountain biked to the top of Nimitz Hill and canyoneered down the Fonte River while the other two kayaked to the boat basin. After completing their mini-quests, the racer swapped bikes and kayaks en route to the fourth check point before rejoining for a mountain bike portion from sea level to over a thousand feet at the top of Mount Tenjo. Mister said was the most difficult portion of the course because it was the hottest part of the day.

The teams sped downhill through the fifth checkpoint and back to the Ypao Beach start location for the sixth checkpoint before coasteering nearly seven miles along the west coast of Guam to Ague Cove over razor-sharp limestone outcroppings. Good footing was held at a premium as the teams raced toward the seventh checkpoints, and as they approached, the Marianas Adventurists had begun to overcome an early miscalculation on the kayak course to pull to within 10 minutes of Team Ficas.

The foursomes searched feverishly for the swiftest route to coasteer to the eighth checkpoint, but the dirty third of a dozen from Saipan shaved off seven minutes from the lead before preparing to pedal.

The teams maneuvered their way toward yet another return to Ypao Beach atop mountain bikes from the eighth checkpoint at Urunao Beach, where Team Ficas extended their physical lead to an incredible 20 minutes.

The lead was not enough to surmount the 50 minutes of penalties which Team Ficas incurred along the course, and the Marianas Adventurists earned the victory when they completed the race in 14 hours and 26 minutes.

“We could not have asked for better weather, better competition, or stronger passion from the teams. Boat crews along the coast were riveted to the passing and subsequent re-passing that was happening along the coasteering portion from Ypao to Urunao. Teams got the opportunity to see each other a lot throughout the day and to know who was closing on them or who they were beating. It made for an amazing race,” said Oelke,

Saipan also sent Yosh Gabaldon, Peter Sinclair, Chris Fryling, and Richard Sikkel of Team Darkhorse, who managed to lead the race for a good portion of the journey until they encountered difficulties on Mount Tenjo. They got back into contention before heat exhaustion saddled the squad in the afternoon. The Pacific heat continued to plague them throughout remainder of the race, but they were able to complete the race in sixth place at 17 hours flat despite finishing with a teammate sidelined by the sun.

Without an extreme race in the region in the near future, the Marianas Adventurists have an open schedule, but they will continue to train until they decide upon when and where of their next challenge. At the very least, they will be returning for the GEAR6, as the Gear Sports Management group announced that Saturday, May 13, 2006 is the date for next year’s race. Any interested teams may contact wildgeckotours@hotmail.com for more information.