Mister, Galang take top nods in EWORAXTERE

Twenty-two triathletes and 17 mountain bikers gathered at Pau Pau Beach on Sunday as the Northern Mariana Islands Triathlon Federation hosted the Off-Road Adventure XTERRA-Type Extreme Race Event.

Every since the race began four years ago the organizers have made slight alterations to the race title, and in keeping with the traditional annual changing of the name, the ORAXTERE gained a couple of extra letters in honor of Ely Wong.

Tyce Mister bested the nearly two-dozen triathlete field by dispatching the challenging the 750m swim, 25km mountain bike, and 5km trail run in 1:13:39, but his rivals were close by as Butch Sublemente finished little more than a minute later at 1:14:44. Up-an-coming triathlete known in local circles as “The Natural” Richard Sikkel took third after smoking the swim with the days best time (8:53) that propelled him to a 1:16:09 overall.

Veteran triathlete Chris Fryling took fourth place at 1:20:28 ahead of Ken Pierson (1:27:46), Mr. Ironman Stuart Smith (1:28:13), and Anthony Raho (1:30:48).

In traditional triathlons, swimmers complete the first leg of the race and proceed to the first transition and immediately head off atop their two-wheeled machines for the bike course. In the EWORAXTERE, all participants wait for the last swimmer to finish the aquatic lap and ready for the bike course at the same time—only joined by a 17 member field of mountain bikers.

The inspirational Andrea Ozawa of the Department of Public Safety was the only female with the smarm to take the bike challenge, and she finished with a respectable time of 1:23:34.

Before any of them took off on the off-road, all took part in the “Chicken Dance” made famous at wedding receptions and left the transition area when the music stopped. Sublemente was awarded a 30- second head start on the competition after judges deemed his dance skills to be superior to the pack.

Mario Galang was without equal among the group that opted only for the mountain bike course with a top time of 48:54, followed by fellow sub-hour club members Caesar Fortaleza (50:45), Ranato Calage (53:02), Noel Altamirano (55:02), Alex Gozon (56:59), Merwin Macelo (57:03), Manny Del Castro (58:44), and 14-year-old Frederico Fernandez (59:08).

While the race was a great tune-up for tomorrow’s XTERRA Saipan Championship and an excuse to reunite the triathletes and the off-road biking clubs for a day of fun, organizers agreed that the most important part of the day was the fund raising for Ely Wong and his family.

Wong recently underwent a series of medical procedures that included the implementation of a life-saving defibulator. While a majority of the costs were covered by insurance, the Wong’s were left to pay for the $35,000 price tag that the defibulator carried.

According to NMITF treasurer Michael Johnson, the EWORAXTERE racers raised $526 in fees and donations during the race, but the good news continued from there as the NMITF matched the contribution from Saipan Swim Club head coach Michael Stewart to further elevate the total to $584. The good news continued from there as PTI donated $500 in matching funds bringing the total to $1,026.