{"id":31512,"date":"2014-04-04T13:55:27","date_gmt":"2014-04-04T05:55:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tribune.ctsi-logistics.com\/?p=31512"},"modified":"2014-04-04T13:55:27","modified_gmt":"2014-04-04T05:55:27","slug":"pros-primed-xterra-saipan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/pros-primed-xterra-saipan\/","title":{"rendered":"Pros primed for XTERRA Saipan"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"The<\/a>
The pros competing in tomorrow?s XTERRA Saipan Championship pose for a group photo with race director Bill Sakovich, front row left, and Taga, Inc. president Wolf Mojica, standing right, after a press conference yesterday at the DFS Galleria Office in Garapan. (ROSELYN B. MONROYO)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The plot thickens as pro triathletes shared their insights about tomorrow\u2019s 2014 XTERRA Saipan Championship.
\n\u201cIt will be an interesting and very serious competition,\u201d said South Africa\u2019s Dan Hugo. I and Brad (Weiss) tried the bike course and we we\u2019re slowing down a bit because there are a lot of climbs, plus the hot temperature.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hugo will be gunning for his third straight win in less than a month after prevailing in the Philippine and Guam legs of the XTERRA Asia Triple Crown. He is also eyeing to avenge his loss to defending champion Ben Allen of Australia when the former debuted in XTERRA\u2019s Crown Jewel last year. Allen will also aim for this third consecutive XTERRA Saipan victory.<\/p>\n

\u201cHopefully, either of us gets that third straight win,\u201d added Hugo.
\nStanding on Hugo and Allen\u2019s way for completing the three-peat is Weiss, who is expected to have a wiser strategy after placing only third in his first XTERRA Saipan last year.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe bike course was a lot longer than I expected last year and I had a bit of a problem in my nutrition. This time, I am working on my nutrition and adjusting to the heat to have a much improve performance,\u201d the South African pro said.<\/p>\n

Joining Weiss, Allen, and Hugo in the men\u2019s pro field are New Zealand\u2019s Mark Leishman and Olly Shaw, another South African bet Nico Sterk, Austria\u2019s Markus Benesch, Slovakia\u2019s Michal Bucek, and former XTERRA champion Olivier Marceau.<\/p>\n

The two Kiwis tried the bike and run parts of the race last Tuesday for an earlier taste of the technical side of the course.
\n\u201cIt was a rocky uphill climb and tough to go through the single track lanes with the tall grasses,\u201d said Shaw, who was talking of the road toward Mt. Tapochao and the famous South of Music at the backside of the highest peak on the island.<\/p>\n

As for Leishman, he pointed out the end of the run course as the toughest.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s hard going up and down those ravines and the caves. It\u2019s horrible to move quickly as you don\u2019t want to hurt yourself,\u201dLeishman said.<\/p>\n

Marceau had been through the technical and challenging run and bike courses and he will use the race to warm up for future events
\n\u201cIt\u2019s my first race of the season and there\u2019s no need to rush things. I just want to enjoy doing the event. No matter how many times you did this race, it\u2019s never the same every year,\u201d said the former Olympian
\nAll nine men\u2019s pro and the women\u2019s field met yesterday in a press conference at the DFS Galleria office, joining women\u2019s pro Jacqui Slack of the United Kingdom, Renata Bucher of Switzerland, Carina Wasle of Austria, and Mieko Carey of Guam.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt will be hard to defend the women\u2019s title this weekend knowing that the girls (Renata, Carina, and Mieko) are here and are used to this technical course and hot weather. However, I love the challenge, I love this course, the technical stuff, and the climbs,\u201d said Slack, who lost to Bucher in XTERRA Philippines and missed XTERRA Guam as she did two races in Australia last month.
\nBeside ruling XTERRA Philippines, Bucher also won XTERRA Guam and all eyes will be on her this weekend, as she targets a three-pear and aim to reclaim the XTERRA Saipan he lost to Slack last year.
\n\u201cI don\u2019t want to pressure myself for this weekend\u2019s race, but I will do my best. It\u2019s always wonderful to win, especially here on Saipan, but you\u2019ll never know what\u2019s going to happen. Sometimes, you need some luck,\u201d Bucher said.<\/p>\n

Winning on Saipan is also Mieko\u2019s long-time goal.
\n\u201cI lived on Saipan for 10 years and it\u2019s my dream to win here. I hope I can make it and reach the finish line with a smile. I want to hug my Saipan friends when I finish the race,\u201d Carey said.
\nCarey placed second to Bucher in XTERRA Guam and ahead of Wasle, who will be competing in her fourth straight XTERRA Saipan and third straight race in less than a month.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re all in good shape despite going through a lot of races. The triathlete with more power and more energy to go fast will have the edge,\u201d said Wasle, who is favored in the 12-kilometer trail run part of the course.<\/p>\n

Tomorrow\u2019s XTERRA Saipan will start with the 1.5K swim leg at Micro Beach at 6:30am, followed by the 30K run race on the northern side of the island.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The plot thickens as pro triathletes shared their insights about tomorrow\u2019s 2014 XTERRA Saipan Championship….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":31516,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[195,504,51,133],"class_list":["post-31512","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-australia","tag-austria","tag-guam","tag-run"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31512","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31512"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31512\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31516"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31512"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31512"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31512"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}