Team Santa slays Christmas Island Relay anew

Team Santa runs into first place of the youth division with a time of 1:25.13 in the Northern Marianas Athletics’ 41st Annual Christmas Island Relay held last Saturday. (LAO ZHANG)

Team Santa slayed the competition after coming in first yet again in the youth division of the Northern Marianas Athletics’ 41st Annual Christmas Island Relay last Saturday.

Four supremely conditioned soccer players—Andrei Chavez, Zhixiang Lin, Nolan Ngewakl, Marcus Toves—and runner Pony Tang dominated the 13.7-mile long course that spanned from Pacific Islands Club Saipan to the Last Command Post in Marpi with a time of 1:25:13.

In second place was Agape Youth 1 with a time of 1:27.05 and third place went to Agape Youth 2 with a time of 1:36.28.

Raffy Cai, Daniel Song, Jacky Liu, Daniel Yang, and John Chen made up Agape Youth 1, while Steve Yang, James Fan, Juke Chen, Jeshurun He, and Emma Pang completed the Agape Youth 2 team.

Last year’s 40th Christmas Island Relay, Team Santa that was also spearheaded by team captain Andrei Chavez, jingled their way to first place with a time of 1:31.04; they also won the 39th Island Relay.

Chavez said that this year’s race was a good one, although, “It was actually a bit hard because the road is wet so it was hard to get a good grip. But, it was a good one, though it was very tiring this year.”

She said in the beginning, “Agape was leading first and then it was a 100-meter lead for Agape… so we had to catch up, and then we caught up so we slowly had to keep that lead for the rest of the race.” 

Tang, a runner from Marianas High School’s Run Club, said that the race “was good. The weather was good. I thought it was going to rain, but it was clear… just a bit of a sprinkle.”

When asked how it was to run with soccer players, Tang said that it was “fun. They’re all very fast.”

This year’s race also included Agape Torch Bearers 1, Agape Torch Bearers 2, #Beastmates, Baby Got Track, Buns&Guns, Buns&Guns-Dos, DMSTottots, Geckos Run For Their Breakfast, Gemini’s Rising, Happy Go Runners, Rex’s Team, Run Saipan Alpha, Run Saipan Bravo, Run Saipan Pacemakers, Run Saipan Silent Knights, Run Saipan AJA, Saipan Paddling Club, Sleighers, Spaeth Force, U.S. Army 9th MSC Flag, US Army CNMI Flag, U.S. Army United States Flag, Team Santa 2022 Open, Team Taffy, Thisiswhatiwanttodoonxmaseve, and Yuletide Yinzers.

Edward Dela Cruz Jr., president of Run Saipan, thanked NMA, Department of Public Safety, volunteers, along with the event’s sponsor, Marpac “for always supporting and sponsoring the island relay by providing amazing raffle prizes to the public.”