Buco, Corotan fastest in RCS’ End Polio Now bike race

The bike is just an extension of long-time cyclists Joel Buco and Ponce Corotan at this point as they trekked through the Road Bike 30-kilometer long course and Road Bike 20-km short course of the fastest in the Inaugural Rotary Club of Saipan’s End Polio Cycling Challenge on a windy Saturday morning.

Buco, in the 30-km long course race from Banzai Cliff, Saipan Select, to Bird Island and back, clocked in the fastest at 55:06.

Second place was Renren Gaviola at 56:25, and third place went to Paolo Pepito two seconds after at 56:27.

The U40 category was dominated by J.R. Villamin with a time of 58:08; second was Daniell Pablo at 58:20; and third was Bodie Barrios at 58:38.

Fred Remillosa claimed first in the 40-49 age category at 56:32; Michiteru Mita was second at 58:01; and third was Ferdz Licayan at 58:55.

The 50-59 category first place was Leo Baetiong at 56:45; second was Noel Altamirano at 58:13; and third was Vasily Karpov at 1:03:01.

In the 60-and-above category, Top 3 was Willy Barbo at 59:57; Greg Clark at 1:03:01; and Edgardo Abalos at 1:03:01.

Sixty-five-year-old avid biker Corotan smoked everyone in the short course as he traversed from Banzai Cliff to Tanapag’s Saipan Select and back with a sub-40 minute time of 39:75.

After Corotan was Rotary Club International’ District 2750’s governor Yoichiro Miyazaki, who came from Japan to join the race, with a time of 39:50. Third place was Jaypee Pangilinan at 40:28.

Leo Wania was the lone racer in the 40-49 age category and came in at 57:58.

In the 50-59 age category, Renato Barros was first at 40:52; Enoch Lim was second with a time of 59:03; and third was Ruel Magtalas with 1:03:01.

It was windy for everyone and for Buco, he said the race was tough because of it. He hasn’t been training much lately as well because he’s been busy with work, but decided to just join the event anyway. He said in Filipino, “the course was hard so not a lot of people were with me in the lead. I had the lead all to myself and the rest of the bikers were just going at their own steady pace.”

Buco said of the event, “it was a good event. I saw a lot of people are joining the fundraiser and so I decided to join it too. I actually just signed up for the event the night before the race.”

As for Corotan, who at 65 years old didn’t even seem like he broke out in a sweat when he reached the finish line, said that the course was “flat and a little windy, but I managed to do what I could.”

Fighting thirst because he forgot to bring a water bottle with him, he actually stopped toward the end of the course to get a quick drink. Even with the short pause, he was still in the lead.

The 12-year veteran biker said of the event, “it’s nice. I think this is the most participants I’ve seen in a race.” As for the cause, which is to help end polio, he said, “it’s important. So maybe next time, when there’s fundraisers like this again, I’ll join. We need to help each other out.”

He shared that he didn’t finish the Hell of Marianas held last December because of an accident he had during the race, but after, also joined a bike race in Guam.

Results of the MTB races, Road Bike women’s division, E-Bike, and kid’s course will be posted in the next editions of Saipan Tribune.