Torgeson to bid Saipan adieu

Eli Torgeson is ending his short stay in the CNMI, but he will be bringing a long list of triumphs from his brief love affair with the sports community when he leaves Saipan this Saturday.

The Commonwealth Health Center anesthesiologist is moving back to New Mexico after having been a familiar fixture in CNMI sports events for only a year and four months.

He came to Saipan in August last year and after winning the 2nd Annual Banzai Memorial Half Marathon in record-breaking fashion finishing the 19-mile trail course in one hour, 18 minutes, .04 seconds and shattering Yoshi Suzuki’s mark (1:30.10) in the inaugural race, Torgeson started to become a household name in running and biking events.

Records from various events fell too when the former Connecticut resident began joining one event after another.

The latest was during the 2nd Annual Hell of the Marianas Century Cycle this month with Torgeson successfully defending his title and setting a new record. He finished the 100-kilometer cycling race around the island in a blistering time of 3:20:22.62, breaking his own record of 2:30:33 during the inaugural “Hell” in 2007.

Torgeson was in Seventh Heaven after surviving the second “Hell” as the event was a fitting farewell race for a rider who improved his biking skills on Saipan.

“I did biking in the mainland, but it is on Saipan where I flourished as a biker. I find biking easier than running because of the weather here and the courses present great challenges,” Torgeson said.

Torgeson may find it hard to run, but when you look how he competed in those long distance races, it seemed so easy for him to cross the finish line first.

Take last month’s grueling Mt. Tapochao Turkey Trot Fun Run for example.

Torgeson completed the 4.2-mile race in a 34:20 seconds, eclipsing Stuart Smith’s time of 36:46 in 2006.

He was not able to join the official Mt. Tapochao race in 2007, as he got a call from CHC. But he still ran from Lower Base to the highest peak on the island past 30 minutes after the race started and managed to finish ahead of half of the participants, a few more minutes behind his 2008 time.

A week before the Mt. Tapochao run, Torgeson and his reliable bike had been to the peak during the 3rd Annual Tough Love Mountain Bike. He finished the race from Micro Beach to Mt. Tapochao in 29:18, breaking the 32:03 mark set by Steve Smith in the inaugural race in 2006.

Then here comes the swimming part, which according to Torgeson is his Waterloo.

Torgeson’s speed in the water was tested in his debut in the 2008 XTERRA Saipan Championships.

He timed in at 25:12 in the 1.5-kilometer swim and was still in the Top 20 of more than 60 swimmers who plunged into the cold water of Micro Beach. Torgeson logged a total time of 3:17:11 to become the top amateur finisher in XTERRA’s Crown Jewel.

He was fifth overall behind triathlon pros Andrew Noble of Australia, Jim Vance of the U.S., Japan’s Takashiro Ogasawara, and Switzerland’s Renata Bucher.

Not bad for an athlete who competed in his first triathlon event after 10 years.

For his impressive showing in XTERRA Saipan, Torgeson earned a slot to the 2008 XTERRA World Champions in Maui, Hawaii held two months ago and made a good account of himself in the culminating event.

Torgeson also joined this year’s Tagaman Triathlon, XTERRA Guam and Saipan Half Marathon, and a series of NMITF Enticers.

“I had a lot of good races on Saipan and I want to thank those who race with me, those who gave me challenges. The members of the sports community had been very good to me and my family. I will definitely miss them,” Torgeson said.