Pros want XTERRA Saipan back next year

With its two-year “licensing” contract for the XTERRA Saipan Championship up for renewal in 2010, the Marianas Visitors Authority is once again faced with the difficult decision on whether to bring back or not the crown jewel of the XTERRA Global Tour.

But if you ask organizers and triathletes who have experienced the double dose of XTERRA Saipan and the following weekend’s Tagaman Triathlon, the answer is an overwhelming yes.

Bill Sakovich, who along with Taga, Inc. president Wolf Mojica took over organizational control of XTERRA Saipan from Team Unlimited in 2008, said if there is money available then it is a no-brainer that MVA should renew XTERRA Saipan for another two years.

“We would like to do XTERRA again next year. The athletes, especially those from off-island, want to see it again,” he added.

He said everyone, from five-time XTERRA Saipan and two-time Tagaman champion Renata Bucher of Switzerland, to first-timer Arland Macasieb of the Philippines, to local triathletes like Mieko Carey and Bucth Sublemente want another crack at XTERRA Saipan in 2010.

The former president of the Northern Marianas Amateur Sports Association said XTERRA Saipan, and to a lesser extent the Tagaman, has also gained a good following the past several years for pros unable to train in their home countries.

“They see this as a good training ground. In Europe, in Japan, and probably in Korea, it’s cold right now, there’s very little sun. Half of them cannot really train outside because everything has to be indoors. That’s why a number of triathletes came here and in Guam and spent the last three weeks to train.”

Sakovich, who along with wife Jean is a co-founder of the Saipan Swim Club, was the islands’ foremost sports event organizer for three decades before moving to Hilo, Hawaii in 2005.

“If we get the money, we will try to do both. We would like to do both. My personal opinion—it’s basically fact—‘hey I want to compete in XTERRA Saipan because it’s a qualifier to the Worlds’ (XTERRA World Championships). Coming to Saipan to do Tagaman is what? It’s prestige, ‘hey we did Tagaman’ and that’s it.”

If given a choice between the two, however, Sakovich said he will lean toward funding for XTERRA Saipan.

“To be honest with you, it’s easier to promote XTERRA because it’s a world qualifier. Tagaman is Tagaman, it’s an event in itself. So it makes it harder to promote. If we have to do one event, we’re better off doing XTERRA—as much as I hate to say it because Tagaman is my event,” he said.

Moving forward

For Mojica, who lost several pounds by organizing the twin events the past three weeks, the 2009 Saipan Sports Fest helped showcase the CNMI to the rest of the world—not only to the triathlon community.

“We believe that the 2009 Saipan Sportsfest was a very successfully executed event with two fabulous races and a great show of Saipan hospitality to the off-island participants,” he said.

Wolf said Taga, Inc. has tentatively scheduled XTERRA Saipan for March 13, 2010 with the Tagaman following on March 20, 2010.

“We are planning on having XTERRA University for both Japanese speaking and English speaking participants as well,” he said.

The DFS Saipan assistant general manager said Taga, Inc. will try to tie lose ends evident in the 2009 edition of the Sports Fest to make the 2010 staging even better.

“Promoting the event is one area where we need to improve and we are going to rely more heavy on linking with other events online and to do more Internet promotions. We are in the process of preparing an informational flyer that can go with any athletes traveling off-island to take and pass out at any events they might be participating in,” he said.

He said Tagaman will also undergo a makeover next year as Taga, Inc. decided to shorten the course in both the bike and the run.

“We will drop the Koblerville Loop from the bike (which is about three miles) and we will make the run a 10K instead of a 15K moving the turn around to Quartermaster Road,” he said.

Mojica also thanked MVA, Pacific Island Club, IT&E, Coca-Cola, Subway, Glimpses of Saipan, Foremost, Docomo Pacific, DFS Galleria, all the volunteers, all the aid station sponsors, and the property owners on the XTERRA trail for their support and permission for making the 2009 Saipan Sports Fest a success.