Heart of champions, spirit of sportsmanship

Aside from winning and surviving the tricky if not perilous descent on the slopes of Mt. Tapochao, there’s still a lot of tales from the trail of the just concluded XTERRA Saipan Championship.

Julie Dibens of the United Kingdom and Saipan-based Japanese triathlete Mieko Carey crashed their bikes and were injured but they showed the spirit of true champions by not giving up and finished the race in pain.

Janet King, Jim McConnel, and Makoto Shimamoto also displayed sportsmanship in its purest sense.

Coming out of the waters of Micro Beach and first to complete the swim, Dibens was on her way to a runaway victory until she miscalculated one of the most difficult portions of the bike trail in Chinatown.

She was going downhill but the bike slipped through the dirt and she was outbalanced and injured the right side of her body.

That portion, according to some local bikers frequently visiting the area for their regular practice, is probably the most difficult part of the XTERRA Saipan trail.

“I did not pass through it. I went to the race official if it was a violation but he said it was okay since it’s still within the trail,” said Florence Antonio, a veteran Saipan biker.

Dibens, however, opted not to skip the dangerous terrain.

Badly hurt, the Athens Olympic veteran and two-time XTERRA World champion said she thought of quitting the race at that point.

She picked up her bike and just wanted to pull out from the race.

During the transition for the run, she learned that she still had the lead against Renata Bucher of Switzerland.

“I began feeling better and just went there and wanted to finish it,’ said Dibens, who settled for second with a total time of 3:05:24 behind five-time winner Bucher, who clocked in at 2:56:55.

Dibens will not be competing in this weekend’s 20th Tagaman Triathlon not because of the injury though, as she is set to compete in Florida.

“I’ll go rest for three days back home and see what happens,” said the native of Bath, United Kingdom.

She finished runner-up for the second time to Bucher. The two also finished 1-2 in the 2007 XTERRA Saipan.

At the awards ceremony later in the evening at the Pacific Islands Club, Dibens received her award wearing a wig and looked as if the injury was already a thing of the past. She also managed to embrace her rival Bucher.

American champion Shonny Vanlandingham finished third in her first attempt in the crown jewel of the XTERRA Global Tour by timing in at 3:06:46, while the ever-smiling Carey came in fourth with her 3:44:56.

Carey, who knows the trail very well, crashed right after coming down Mt. Tapochao.

She forced her way to the jungle and badly hurt her left side. She finished the bike and run limping because of the scrapes and bruises on her body.

“I can’t talk much yet. It’s really hurting me now,” she said.

Tinian’s Janet King was not able to finish the race but she gained some points in the sportsmanship department after loaning his bike to CNMI National Basketball Team member Quincy Johnson, who had a flat tire.

Another Good Samaritan was Makoto Shimamoto, who helped fix Heather Kennedy’s flat tire.

Kennedy later won the women’s 40-44 years division with a time of 2:52:31.

Another dramatic experience for two pros was that of Austria’s Ulli Katzer and U.K.’s Jim McConnel.

Katzer had a flat tire just halfway through the bike portion and lost some three minutes.

McConnel gave his cycling kit and the two embraced later at the finish line as Katzer returned the tools.

“If not for him, I may not have finished the race,” said Katzer, who is competing for the first time on Saipan.

McConnel was sixth overall with a total time of 2:52:34, while Katzer came in seventh in the men’s division and eighth overall just behind Dibens with a time of 2:59:01.