Visitor, student top Day 1 of Trinity race

A Swiss visitor Martin Hess and middle school student Addalee Taflinger were the fastest runners in the Beach Road Pathway 10K, which was Day 1 of Run Saipan’s grueling 2024 Trinity race series last Saturday morning.

They outgassed over 40 other runners in the back-and-forth course from The Shack to National Office Supply and back, with Martin Hess first overall at 38:38.31, while Taflinger came in first in the women’s division at 52:08.86.

Sildrey Veloria was second to Hess with a time of 40:55.62, and third place was Victor Nash Santos who clocked in at 41:40.21.

Second to Taflinger was Shawna Brennfleck just 30 seconds later at 52:48.84, while Ann Bang came in third at 53:53.58.

Hess, from Switzerland who’s visiting Saipan with his wife for two and a half weeks, said that the race was hard because of the humidity. “I still have a little problem with the humidity but it was nice, especially the flat [course].”

Hess said there were three or four of them running for the lead in the first 2K or 3K, but then he pulled away further and stayed in the lead.

Taflinger said after the race that it was a good one. “I’ve never ran in the Trinity before and so I really enjoyed it, doing a different race.” She said she kept pace with Brennfleck, but at the second turnaround eventually passed her.

The Saipan International School 8th grader said that this is just her second 10K race, with the first being the Grotto 10K last year. She said that she likes 5Ks better as it’s much shorter, but that 10Ks is something different.

She said she joined the Trinity race because her parents, Chad and Angela, joined last year (and this year), and said that it was fun, so she decided to join it as well.

Addalee said she dreads the Mt. Tapochao 5K as it’s uphill, but that she’ll just rest and hydrate before then.

Run Saipan is awarding the top male and female overall after the completion of all three races. There is no overall Top 3 this year, just the fastest accumulated for the fastest male and female runner.

Results of Day 2 at Mt. Tapochao (5K), and Day 3 at Marpi (5K) will be posted in the next issues of Saipan Tribune.