{"id":319207,"date":"2020-03-16T06:04:48","date_gmt":"2020-03-15T20:04:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=319207"},"modified":"2020-03-16T06:04:48","modified_gmt":"2020-03-15T20:04:48","slug":"saipan-marathon-returnee-triumphs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/saipan-marathon-returnee-triumphs\/","title":{"rendered":"Saipan Marathon returnee triumphs"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_319209\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-319209\" style=\"width: 670px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/saipan-marathonpix.jpg\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-319209\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Japanese Yasutaka Monde runs along Beach Road as he heads back to the start\/finish line of last Saturday\u2019s 2020 Saipan Marathon. (Roselyn B. Monroyo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>A returning champion topped last Saturday\u2019s 2020 Saipan Marathon.<\/p>\n<p>Yasutaka Monde, who won in the 50K race in the 2015 edition of Marianas Visitors Authority\u2019s signature event, completed the 41.195K course in 2:33:12, surpassing the record (2:38:32) of last year\u2019s winner Yoshiyuko Ono. The 41-year-old Ono also did last Saturday\u2019s race, but dropped to second place overall after clocking in at 2:40:39.<\/p>\n<p>Rounding out the Top 6 overall finishers in the men\u2019s division of the marathon event that started and ended at the American Memorial Park with turnaround points at Banzai Cliff in Marpi up north and Pacific Islands Club in San Antonio down south were Guam\u2019s Ryan Matienzo (2:43:05) and Japan\u2019s Mamoru Nagata (2:46:06), Takashi Hanashima (2:51:17), and Masayuki Abe (2:52:16).<\/p>\n<p>In the women\u2019s division, Tomomi Nakajima, also from Japan, reached the finish line first, as she checked in at the 2:54:41 mark and was the lone runner to break the three-hour barrier.<\/p>\n<p>Joining Hanashima, the champion of Laguna Phuket Marathon in Thailand last year, in the Top 6 overall in the women\u2019s division were her compatriot Naomi Washizu (3:13:39), Saipan\u2019s Heather Taylor (3:24:00), and Japan\u2019s Maki Narita (3:30:05), Ruri Wakamatsu (3:31:56), and Yuko Muto (3:37:50).<\/p>\n<p>In the half marathon, Guam\u2019s Manami IIjima, who is preparing for this weekend\u2019s Tagaman Triathlon, reigned supreme in the women\u2019s field after recording 1:28:20\u2014more than three minutes ahead of Japan\u2019s Marina Matsuura (1:31:57).<\/p>\n<p>Two Saipan runners\u2014Akiko Miller (1:49:33) and Kimiko McKagan (1:57:09\u2014made it to the Top 6 overall, while Heather Popa (1:57:35) of the U.S. and Keiko Nakakarumai (1:58:59) of Japan were also on the elite list.<\/p>\n<p>In the men\u2019s half marathon Japanese Kazuaki Okamoto outsprinted compatriot Yuki Uchiyama to the finish line, as the former clocked in at 1:14:16 against the latter\u2019s 1:14:32.<\/p>\n<p>Completing the Top 6 in the men\u2019s half marathon race that also started and ended at the AMP with a turnaround point at PIC were Guam\u2019s Derek Mendell (1:17:33), Japan\u2019s Shintaro Natsume (1:18:20) and Samuel Smith (1:25:08), and Peter Blas (1:41:46) of the U.S.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A returning champion topped last Saturday\u2019s 2020 Saipan Marathon. Yasutaka Monde, who won in the&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":319209,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[3134],"class_list":["post-319207","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-saipan-marathon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319207","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=319207"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319207\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/319209"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=319207"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=319207"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=319207"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}