Hess, Taflinger sweep Trinity series

From the snowy Alps to the sunny tropics, Swiss visitor Martin Hess blew all local runners out of the water as he swept the competition and set two new course records in the three-day Run Saipan 2024 Trinity Race last Martin Luther King Jr. weekend.

In the women’s division, a young up-and-coming student-athlete Addalee Taflinger made her mark in the series as she swept all three race days as well.

The last race on Monday was the Route 30 Drag Strip 5K, with Hess setting a new course record with a sub-18 time of 17:57. Second was Jody O’Sullivan at 18:54; and third was Sildrey Veloria with a time of 19:31.

Taflinger came in at 24:39; Ann Bang overtook Shawna Brennfleck for second place at 25:44; and Brennfleck was third with 25:53.

Hess, who is visiting with his wife for two weeks, decided to join the race after his wife told him about it and the rest was history.

The third installment of the race, Hess said, was nice as it’s a much flatter course than the steep Mt. Tapochau 5K race last Sunday, and much shorter than the 10K Beach Road course last Saturday.

He said this course, which was slightly uphill, was against the wind, while going down, it was with the wind, so it helped. As for the lead, he was running with three or four other runners and pulled away 1K into the race.

As for the experience of running three consecutive early races, he said, “I really liked it. I’ve never done this before and in the morning when I woke up, I’m like, ‘oh no, I’m doing that.’ I’m all still so sore, but in the moment when you’re about to race, it’s nice, because you feel like you’ve accomplished something.”

His favorite race, he said, was the Mt. Tapochau 5K in which he also set a new course record. “We were up there with the sunrise, and the course was a little bit on the dirt road. It was a beautiful course and a beautiful finish,” he said.

When he was told he broke two course records, he was shocked and said he didn’t know. “It feels nice! I hope someone, someday, someone who’s living here will break it,” he said.

The 37-year-old engineer and his wife first traveled to Saipan eight years ago while doing her language studies and returned this time around for work again. They are leaving this Thursday and said they have been sight-seeing and visiting friends. Hess said he would love to return to Saipan for another vacation.

For 13-year-old Taflinger, she said the course was nice with the downhill return to the finish line. On how she felt finally finishing three races in a row, she said, “I’m exhausted because all of the races have been so hard. Waking up early every morning was exhausting, and my legs are hurting really bad. I haven’t rested them that much.”

Her favorite course, she said, was the first day. “I haven’t run that much on Beach Road and like since it was the first day, it wasn’t that tiring.”

As for her overall thoughts on her first Trinity race, she said, “It was fun and challenging because you don’t get a day in between for a break. So, it’s really [fulfilling] to finish because it’s like a hard race.”

Results of the overall Top 10 in the men and women categories will be posted in the next issues of Saipan Tribune.