Kids have fun on ‘Rumble on the Road’

Nine-year-old Jellian Majors out-swam, out-biked, and outran a field of 23 competitors to take the tape in the Northern Mariana Islands Triathlon Federation’s “Rumble on the Road” on Saturday, as the Saipan Swim Club star crossed the finish line of the 100-meter swim, 3-kilometer bike, and 1km run in a time of 19:34.

After getting lined up by SSC swim coach and assistant race director, Michael Stewart, the 6-9-year-olds were off. Majors was the first out of the pool, posting a time of 1:34 for the 100m, but lost a bit of her lead when she biked the 3km course in 10:30, allowing Ashley Northern to take a 29-second lead on her pedals.

Majors never quit, and her time of 7:30 on the 1km run course was enough for her to regain the lead, and edge Northern by 45 seconds (20:19). Grace Brostrom took third to round out the top three for the girls, while 8-year-old Andrew Johnson took top honors for the boys.

Johnson’s overall time of 19:47 was only bested by Majors, but he trailed nine-year-old R.J. Knecht by seven seconds as the pair left the water for the bike course. Johnson excelled on two-wheels to take a 45-second lead on Knecht, and extended his lead with a 7:41 1-km run for first place. Knecht finished with a strong 21:05 overall, while third-place finisher Jacob Jones was close behind at 22:42.

Ten participants made their way out to the pool to compete in the 10-12 age group, despite the best efforts of race organizers efforts to attract new blood. Of those who did the swim, bike, and run, Cooper Graf had the fastest swim split with a time of 3:05 in the 200m distance, but he was bested by Bradley Brostrom who finished with an overall time of 18:24. Graf crossed the finish line 40 seconds later at 19:04. Hunter Thorpe rounded out the top three boys finishers when he sprinted to a 20:29 finish.

The girls top finisher Dominique Austin wasn’t far behind at 21:16, and Amber Roberts (23:40) and Madison Schultz (27:49) completed the triumvirate.

As competitive as the event was, the spirit of the event was geared more toward getting the children into living a healthy lifestyle. Though times were recorded and places assigned, all of the athletes were congratulated and met with a finisher’s medal.

Nothing personified the spirit more than the youngest athletes of the day, as all eight of the participants in the Tikes and Trikes division swam half the length of the pool, moved to the scooters, big wheels, tricycles, and training wheels portion of the “bike” course, before heading out to the run.

Five-year-old Cassidy Majors was the first to finish the swim, bike out to the turn-around at the second power pole down the road, and return for the run to the first telephone pole and back to earn the fastest overall time at 4:23. Sydney Carruth (7:09), Aliya Conrad (7:22), and Gabrielle Austin (8:44) rounded out the girls’ division.

Fellow five-year-old Drayton Small too the tape for the boys with a time of 4:35, while John Author (5:05), and three-year old Logan Mister (6:52) made up the field for the boys.

While the races distances were intended to be identical to that of the Tagakids on Sunday, April 17, race director Sue Knecht said that the bike course was shortened due to the lack of volunteers.

“The safety of our children is a first priority for NMITF and should also be for the parents. If we cannot man a safe course, next time it will be altered or cancelled. Typically, to hold a race, we need about one volunteer for every two children. The Tagakids triathlon is a 5-km bike race, so kids, get out there and bike up at Marpi during spring break,” said Knecht.