40 sign up for Manny to Maui Bike Race

The Manny to Maui Bike Race is confirmed for June 29 with as many as 40 bikers already signifying their participation in the fundraiser for veteran triathlete Manny Sitchon’s trip to the 2008 XTERRA World Championships in Hawaii.

Race time is set at 6:30pm with registration starting at 5:45am. The entry is $20 and entitles participants to a cycling jersey and a ticket to the raffle following the event.

The 35-mile road bike race will start at the Hyatt Regency Saipan parking lot, with bikers proceeding to Suicide Cliff, Bird Island Lookout, and Banzai Cliff before heading back to the American Memorial Park.

The 25-mile mountain bike, for its part, will also start at the Hyatt before participants cycle to the Last Command Post and venture into off-road country beginning at the Marpi Landfill, Banzai Trail Boonies, Banzai Cliff, before going back to the Micro Beach Pavillion.

Sitchon said he would like to thank the following companies for helping him stage the Manny to Maui Bike Race: JG Group of Companies, KFC/Taco Bell, Micronesian Brokers, Inc., Island Business Systems and Supplies, Aquarius Beach Tower and Hotel, Pacific Islands Club, Marianas Pacific Distributors, PTI, Coca-Cola Beverage Co. Inc., Saipan Grand Hotel, Fiesta Resort and Spa Saipan, Saipan Tribune, MDX Radio Communications Group, Marianas Variety, Palms Resort Saipan, and DPS Traffic Division.

Sitchon said he is organizing the Manny to Maui Bike Race to help defray the costs of transportation and hotel accommodation during his stint in the 2008 XTERRA World Championships set for Oct. 26.

The XTERRA World Championship is limited to top 500 qualifiers from different XTERRA triathlon series of races, including the XTERRA Saipan Championship, considered the jewel of the XTERRA global tour.

The Maui triathlon course is legendary as it combines a 1.5-kilometer swim in the water of the Pacific ocean, 30-km of mountain biking with more than 3,000 feet of climbing up the slopes of Maui’s Haleakala Volcano, and an 11-km trail run covering a dozen different surfaces from sand to lava rock.

Sitchon, who works as a service support supervisor at Island Business Systems and Supplies, qualified for the XTERRA World Championships after winning the 50-54 division in the 7th XTERRA Saipan Championship last March 8.