Daly, Kennedy top XTERRA Sport

Kieran Daly showed little or no signs of an ACL injury in his victory in the Sport division of the 8th Annual XTERRA Saipan Championship Saturday.

Daly crossed the finish line at the American Memorial Park with ease, completing the .643-kilometer swim leg, 15-km. bike part, and the 6.7-km. run in two hours and .02 seconds.

“It was an easier race compared to last year, where the trails and the roads were damp. I had a relatively easier time doing the bike and run legs this morning. The water was great, too. It was not that cold,” said Daly, who did not finish last year’s Championship race.

“Last year I hit a dog coming down China Town hill and did not finish the race, as I damaged my ACL, PCL, and meniscus,” Daly said.

“It has taken one year to heal and I still cannot run very well. So I thought I could make the 5K run if I did the Sport,” he added.

Despite the injury, Daly still had the best time in the run leg, clocking in at 18:47. He logged 10:41 in the swim portion and was one of the only two riders who timed in at under two hours in the bike part with his 1:28:13.

Runner-up Paul Viator was the other Sport participant to clock in under two hours in the bike portion with his 1:59:22. Viator tallied 13:37 in the swim part and 27:01 in the run for a total time of 2:44:34.

Heather Kennedy was the third overall finisher and first in the women’s division with her total time of 2:52:21.

Kennedy won the women’s division after surviving a flat tire. She owed half of her victory to Japanese Makoto Shimamoto, who helped her fix the flat tire. The former member of the CNMI beach volleyball team was fifth in the swim with her time of 14:52, third in bike (2:11:23), and second in run (22:26).

Placing fourth overall and second in the women’s division was Elizabeth Church, who recorded 2:54:18. She had 13:33 in the swim part, 2:12:55 in the bike leg, and 23:02 in the run portion.

James Barry was fifth overall and third in the men’s division after completing the race in 3:22:36, followed by Jim Arenovski (3:37:44), and Gester Garcia (3:49:36).

In the relay division, the two-person team of Monica Yamaguchi and Jeffrey Diyco defeated three other teams.

Yamaguchi did the swim and run parts of the relay, timing in at 14:36 and 18:11, respectively, while Diyco clocked 1:56:23 in the bike portion for a total time of 2:30:37. Yamaguchi and Diyco’s time could be a few minutes lower if the former did not get lost in the run portion. Instead of going in straight to the loop en route to the finish line, Yamaguchi went to the side, as she thought she had to make another turn before entering the loop.

The PIC trio of Glenn Policare, James Abuy, and Lindsey Sosovec finished second with a combined time of 2:57:04. Policare posted 15:05 in the swim leg, Abuy finished the bike part at 2:18:29, while Sosovec clocked in at 21:35 in the run portion.

Completing the Top 3 was the MHS team of Marystar Welch, Danny Bai, and Heartim Williams. Welch was first out of the water, timing in under 10 minutes (9:59), while Bai and Williams logged 3:01:35 and 20:03 in the bike and run legs, respectively.

The duo of Harumi Sugihashi and Takayuki did not finish the race.