SPC bags 6 medals; Andrew, Aldan are top junior paddlers

It was a survival of the mentally fittest for Saipan Paddling Club’s members as they battled rescheduling, the heat, and unfamiliar waters during the 23rd Annual Micronesia Cup Canoe Race off the waters of Matapang Beach, Guam last weekend.

Despite the last-minute changes to their junior paddlers’ schedules, SPC bagged three gold, one silver, and two bronze medals, while their junior boys paddlers—17-year-olds Tyler Andrew and Phillip Aldan—received the Top Junior Paddler awards.

Andrew and Aldan gave SPC two gold medals after topping both the junior boys 500m sprints with a time of 2:44 and the junior boys 1,000m with a time of 6:14.28.

SPC’s third gold medal was paddled in by their open men V6 1,000m team with a time of 5:39.30.

Their lone silver medal was in the open women V6 1,000m with at time of 6:37.70; and their bronze medals washed ashore by their open women V6 500m team who clocked in at 3:06.50; and the open men’s long distance 10-mile team with a time of 1:38:01.84.

Teammates for the 2022 Saipan Southern High School boys va’a championship team, Andrew and Aldan have been paddling together for some time now. In this Micro Cup, they raced together in the junior categories and in all the open men V6 races except for the mixed races. For the number of races and medals they earned in the competition, Andrew and Aldan were recognized with the Top Junior Paddler awards.

On how Aldan felt about winning the Top Junior Paddler award, he said he was surprised because he didn’t know there would be an award, “but having gotten it, I wanted to show other juniors that taking the time into doing something you are passionate about will take you to great places.”

Andrew, for his part, said he feels really good about it. “It was amazing for Guam to recognize the junior paddlers knowing that there are barely any junior paddlers in our community.”

Getting the award and winning gold in the junior category did not come easy, as SPC coach and president, Justin Andrew—who is also Tyler’s father—said, “originally, the schedule was for the junior paddlers to compete on Friday, and last-minute changes were made and the junior paddlers races were moved to Saturday and this worried me a lot because SPC planned to enter its junior paddlers into the open categories.”

So, on Saturday, their junior paddlers raced back-to-back—out from one race and into another race. “Thankfully, race organizers allowed three to five minutes for a little break—we survived by drinking tons of mixed Gatorade and staying away from the sun’s heat and resting as much when there was a chance. We also had to learn quickly to race on a slightly different model of canoe—the water depth was a bit shallow but we still managed to put on an impressive performance,” said the elder Andrew.

“Me and my boys did back-to-back races, so it was amazing for us to medal considering how tired we were after each race,” said Tyler.

Aldan then thanked coach Andrew, “who of course taught me all that I know, who brought me to the Micro Cup, and who always supported many of the junior paddlers. I believe that the sport will only grow through the inclusion of the younger generations, and he is an amazing example of keeping the culture as well as the tradition of paddling alive in the Marianas. I would also like to thank Mr. Joseph Weaver, who introduced me to the sport through the high-school teams and who also came to the Micro Cup.”

For Tyler’s part, he said “the struggles I had in this competition were racing in a new beach and keeping my composure during a race. Although I was used to racing in deeper waters, Guam’s shallow waters made it a bit of a struggle to adjust to. Keeping my composure was somewhat difficult because I felt my adrenaline kicking in and I didn’t want to let my technique go out of whack.”

He then thanked his coach and board members of his team for making the trip possible. “If it weren’t for them, my team wouldn’t be able to go out and shine in our races. I’d also like to thank the Guam outrigger community for making us feel welcomed, giving us amazing competition, and recognizing junior paddlers.”

As for the upcoming Pacific Games, Tyler said he feels nervous. “My team is a bunch of young boys and girls, but we are not racing in any Micro Cup. We’re now facing top competition, rules, and top teams all over Oceania. I expect to have a good time, get the feeling of racing in a huge competition, and learn from other paddlers outside of Micronesia.”

Aldan said that unfortunately, he isn’t competing in the Pacific Games.

For coach Andrew, he said that overall, the competition was great.

“It’s one of the best performances we had. Majority of our paddlers are juniors and we wished there were more junior Guam paddlers competing in all categories so we can really test our SPC junior paddlers, but overall, I am very happy with our outcome.”

As for the team’s performance, Andrew said “The overall performance from the SPC paddlers—they raced their hearts out and showcased amazing talent, hard work and sportsmanship—I would say that the camaraderie among all paddlers was great….it was like a huge family gathering of outrigger paddlers who just wanted to have fun and show and share with each other their paddling skills.”

“Huge thank you to our many friends, families, and the community organizations for their generous support—Lt. Gov. David M. Apatang, IT&E, Carquest Autoparts, H.S. Lee, Eric and Pamela Rengiil, Rep. Thomas Manglona, Rep. Blas Jonathan Attao, Sandy Weaver, Anthony Macaranas, Donnie and Sharon Milatante, Jenisha’s grandma Ms. Mako Torres, Eileen Fleming, and Cindy Castro and many more who are not named here that generously helped our team make it to Guam for the 2023 Micronesia Cup annual outrigger paddling race,” said Andrew.