Stuart still Saipan’s top dog

Stuart Smith wins just about all of the endurance testing local events the he enters and he followed up his record breaking performance on Thanksgiving Day by taking the tape during the Northern Mariana Islands Triathlon Federation’s Double Sprint race in Marpi on Sunday afternoon.

Saipan’s Ironman was the only competitor to complete the 1,200-meter swim, 36-kilometer bike, and 8-km run in less than two hours, as the lanky legend reached the Pau Pau Beach parking lot 1:54:27 after he began.

The NMITF races typically take place on Saturday mornings but the 4pm Sunday start didn’t faze Smith as he exited the swim ahead of the pack at the 15:46 mark before transitioning to the bike.

Once again, the speedy Smith extended his lead atop his two-wheeled machine with an impressive time of 1:07:36 on the bike course before turning in a 30:55 on the run that was nearly five minutes faster than his closest competitor.

Tyce Mister is also a master of triathlon’s three disciplines and he carried the pride of the Marianas High School Dolphins with him to a second place finish when he reached the beach in second place at 2:05:55.

Lewie Tenorio is closing in on his first year with the NMITF but the voice of 103.9 FM has already beefed up his resume with a number of top performances on the local scene as well as landing a spot on Team CNMI in the 6th Micronesian Games.

The rookie posted the third fastest time on the course behind Smith and Mister with an equally impressive time of 2:08:40 around the NMITF’s favorite circuit

While the Double Sprint pushed the hardcore racers to their limits, a number of finely tuned triathletes tested the waters of the 600-m swim, 18-km bike, and 4-km run Sprint Race.

Visiting adrenaline junkie Shannon Quinn finished first overall with a time of 1:12:00 after recording solid times in each leg of the race. Quinn was the first out of the water with a time of 9:48 on the swim and followed with a 41:59 on the bike before cranking out a 20:13 run to edge top male finisher Ricky Melchoir by 30 seconds.

Melchior finished the swim nearly four minutes behind Quinn but made up all but two seconds of the time on the bike with the fastest cycle on the course (38:20) before Quinn outlasted him on the run.

Fil Debaras placed third overall and second among the men with a total time of 1:21:19 that included a hard finish to the parking lot.

According to series director Sue Knecht, every time a racers enters an event in the Pacific Islands Club Sprint Series, their name entered into a drawing of the top prize of $150, a night’s stay at the PIC, and a two-day/one night stay for four with breakfast at the familiar San Antonio property when organizers select the winner following the final Sprint race on Feb. 7, 2007.

Aside from the grand prizes, there will also be a number of additional PIC prizes available throughout all the NMITF races totaling more than $3,000, as were distributed Sunday when lucky racers took home a Brunch and Lunch at PIC and waterpark passes, water bottles, a mountain bike shirt, and a bike pump.