Saipan Ocean Swim tomorrow
The 23rd Annual HSBC Saipan Ocean Swim will be held tomorrow morning with races beginning at 8am. All swims will take place in front of the Saipan Diamond Hotel using the World War II Tanks sitting inside the lagoon.
The event is open to any swimmers, who are required to register before Friday at 5pm for $7 for entry alone, or $10 before 8am on March 24. No entries will be accepted after that time.
The swim courses vary from 0.6 km to 2.5 km depending upon age, all fronting the Saipan Diamond Hotel.
Swimmers are expected from Japan, Guam and Saipan. As of Thursday, 116 tankers had already signed up. Yoshiko Nagata, Masters swimmer from Japan, who will also be swimming in the 60 years and older, is returning after 10 years to compete again.
Two Japan National Team members, Hiroki Hikita and Takashi Sugisawa have been here since Monday training in the mornings at the Kan Pacific swimming pool, and in the lagoon during the afternoons, totaling about 8-10,000 meters a day.
Hikita competed in the World Open Water Swimming Championships last November in Honolulu, placing 21st. Saipan’s Seung Gin Lee swam the same event, 5km and placed 31st. Both Hiroki and Sugisawa will be competing in the Masters event in Saturday’s race.
Also coming from Guam is Guam’s Olympian Dan O’Keefe. All members of the Saipan Swim Club will also be competing and expect to gain many of the top places. An awards party will be held that evening at the Saipan Diamond Hotel at 6pm.
HSBC is sponsoring the 2001 Ocean Swim for the fourth time. Specially designed medals and certificates will be awarded to all winners and participants.
All swim club members and volunteers are asked to be at the beach by 7am Saturday morning to set up for the day’s event. The last event, the Masters swim, should finish about noon.
The event is a good opportunity for Saipan residents to watch local swimmers in action. Organizers are encouraging the community to come down and cheer for Saipan’s swimmers.
