Gardner lauds high standard of XTERRA Saipan

Newly crowned XTERRA Saipan Championship winner Sam Gardner of the United Kingdom lauded efforts of organizers to maintaining the very high standards of the local race.

“You have a very special race here on Saipan,” said Gardner, who conquered the grueling course last Saturday with a total time of two hours, 34 minutes, and 32 seconds.

Gardner considers the win as his biggest ever in the XTERRA series despite his victories in Japan last year and in Guam last month.

XTERRA Saipan has long been considered the crown jewel of the XTERRA Global Tour and Gardner is proud about his achievement.

Three XTERRA events had been held on the same day. Aside from Saipan, the other two were held in South Africa and New Zelanad.

“This is so special to me,” said Gardner, a fireman by profession before turning pro in 2007. He finished second to four-time Saipan winner Olivier Marceau in his first attempt here.

He said he is 100 percent sure of coming back next year to defend his crown.

Before that, he wants to try taking the PIC Double when he competes in the Tagaman Triathlon next Saturday.

After the Tagaman, he will go home for some rest to savor his XTERRA Saipan win. But his vacation will just be temporary because he will plunge into action again.

His said Saipan experience is good preparation for next month’s XTERRA Italy.

“I’m dedicating this win to my girlfriend Susan (Blackett),” he said.

Blackett is also competing in the Tagaman Triathlon.

“She had been very helpful. She’s a great motivation,” Gardner said.

“Everything just went well with me. I think that after spending several days in Guam and one week here on Saipan before the race, it helped me a lot,” he said.

After finishing seventh in the swim with a time of 20:20, Gardner picked up his pace in the bike (1:18:14), leading Mike Vine of Canada by about half a kilometer as the two went up to Mt. Tapochao passing Waserak Drive.

From that point, he felt he could win it.

“I could see Mike behind me very strong. So I worked harder. Every second was so important,” he said.

Gardner was so relieved when he sensed Vine couldn’t catch him anymore halfway through the run.

This despite submitting a slower time of 54:17 compared to Vine’s 54:12 in the final portion of the three-sport race.