Sawicki psyched for Saipan

While the most extreme racers on the planet are poised to hit the waters along Micro Beach tomorrow morning for the start of the 2006 XTERRA Saipan Championship, some are looking to make a bigger splash on the XTERRA Global Tour—including first-timer Monique “Pua” Sawicki.

Pua, which means flower in Hawaiian, is a 26-year-old endurance aficionado from Oahu who holds an impressive resume which touts some of the most physically demanding events available. After spending time looking into the best courses in the world, she now plans to tackle her first XTERRA race and her first triathlon in the past five years here in the CNMI.

“XTERRA always refers to this as the “Crown Jewel” or the race you have to be at so when we first started researching it online and saw the pictures and read the course descriptions going through the jungles and the caves and all that Jazz, I [yelled to Ron in the other room] that I have to do this race,” she said.

While this is not her first professional race of any kind, Pua should make an impact on this year’s tour thanks in part to her rash of success on the National Off-Road Bicycle Association (NORBA) circuit.

Together with husband Ron, Pua has not wasted anytime in scoping out this weekend’s challenge to get a better feeling for the course. Yesterday the couple pulled double duty by swimming in the waters along Micro Beach before hitting the bike course for the first time, and on Tuesday they ventured out to the world famous 12km trail run.

“It’s awesome. It’s insane. I love it. It’s very cool,” said Pua.

While they enjoyed their adventure, Pua and Ron missed out on one of the features that drew them to Saipan back in September, but Pua will have plenty of time to venture through the much talked-about cave section.

“We missed the caves because we couldn’t find it but they said that we wouldn’t have made it though because we didn’t have any flashlights, but we kind of went down in there and followed the gully out,” said Ron.

With a little local knowledge in the bag and a world of fitness behind her, Pua should be looked upon as a serious contender for the throne. While she has already been drawing praise from media around the globe, it has not always been so easy for Pua to garner respect in the world of sport.

Her husband Ron explained despite her success in the early going, Pua faced some criticism from detractors who found a way to make light of her victories, but Pua let her actions speak louder than their words.

“She’d race against the 24-hour racers in the marathons and beat them but people would say ‘But they’re 24-hour racers, they’re different.’ So she went to the national championships in her first year last year and won by a bigger margin then any female ever has and placed fifth in the nation. Then she went to world championships and was dominating in that race and was battling a girl from Canada and her legs failed in the middle of the first dark lap, but she got second place,” he said.

In her first season as a professional marathon racer on the 2005 NORBA scene, Pua bagged the 2005 title and the 24-hour national championship—this just a year after taking third in her first organized NORBA marathon event.

Pua said that the 24-hour races are as demanding as they are enjoyable because they test her limits and leave her with a great sense of accomplishment when she’s done.

“Mentally and physically it’s just exhausting. It’s a whole other challenge. You just have to keep pedaling and not let anything else get in you head. You can’t think negative or just drift into your thoughts or get away from it because once you lost that focus you’re done. It’s very exhausting, it’s rough, but it’s a lot of fun though,” she said

That 24-hour race took a lot out of Pua. According to her husband it took her three weeks for her body to recover from the physical beating that the everlasting course can put on a racer.

“The first one she had no feeling in the outside of her hands for two weeks, and she lost toenails. The guy who won lost every one of his toenails on both feet. It’s just abusive, and she can’t think at the end. I have to kind of lead her along,” said Ron.

In order to succeed in the lengthy journeys around the course, Pua said that she goes back to basics by taking it one step at a time while maintaining focus on the task at hand.

“I go in there with a goal and I really don’t think about anything else when I’m out there. I king of break it down and focus on one lap at a time. I don’t tend to look at the big picture because that will just blow you out of your mind,” she said.

Now the big picture includes the XTERRA Global Tour and fighting for a spot in the World Championships in Maui, but for Pua it all starts by taking one step at a time—the first being tomorrow’s race in Saipan.