{"id":360611,"date":"2022-01-27T06:04:22","date_gmt":"2022-01-26T20:04:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=360611"},"modified":"2022-01-27T06:04:22","modified_gmt":"2022-01-26T20:04:22","slug":"gary-yulia-master-ocean-swim","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/gary-yulia-master-ocean-swim\/","title":{"rendered":"Gary, Yulia master ocean swim"},"content":{"rendered":"

\""\/\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Gary De Guzman and Yulia Aleksenko proved that swimming is not only for the young after conquering Saipan Swim Club\u2019s Pau Pau to Tanapag 3K last Saturday.<\/p>\n

De Guzman, an assistant coach at SSC, was the first masters swimmer out of the water in the 3-kilometer race from Pau Pau Beach to the Tanapag boat ramp with a time of 46:02.<\/p>\n

The 65-year-old native of Pampanga, Philippines said he could\u2019ve completed the course in 40 minutes if he didn\u2019t pace his students.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m proud that even if I\u2019m already old I could still compete and even finish first among masters swimmers,\u201d he said in Filipino.<\/p>\n

De Guzman, who was the longtime caretaker of the Kan Pacific Swimming Pool before the Marpi facility was mothballed a couple of years ago, said he attributes his swimming fitness to training at least five times a week.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a one-on-one instructor and in fact two of my students competed with me in this morning\u2019s race,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Finishing second to De Guzman in the men\u2019s masters is Tamio Nishikido who touched the sand in 47:43, while completing the Top 3 was Boboy Aguilar at 55:34.<\/p>\n

In the women\u2019s masters, Aleksenko finished 17 minutes ahead of her closest pursuer after completing the open water swim in 48:35. Coming in a far second in the women\u2019s masters was Natalia Gvan at 1:05:16, while third place went to Chris Romero who timed in at a faster 46:13 but did so while wearing fins.<\/p>\n

Aleksenko said the Pau Pau to Tanapag 3K was just another great experience in her swimming journey.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis time only a few swimmers took part in my category so I had a chance to win. While swimming I kept thinking about my son (Isaiah) and was very happy to learn that he won first place as well. It\u2019s definitely a very special moment for me,\u201d said the 49-year-old native of Sakhalin Island, Russia.<\/p>\n

On the conditions in the Saipan lagoon, the former Pacific Islands Club Saipan staff said the route was beautiful despite the surf being rough.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe weather was fine. Water was cool and clear. Saw a turtle passed quickly and the current was strong. It was beautiful.\u201d<\/p>\n

Like De Guzman, Aleksenko said she swims an average of 4-5 days a week.
\n\u201cNow that my work schedule starts early I could only swim before work. That\u2019s why if I do go, it\u2019s still are always dark and only for a short swim. Weekends are the time I could swim long distance,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The Pau Pau to Tanapag 3K was sponsored by the following: Law Office of Janet King, Kerri Bauer Yoga, Aqua Resort Club, Hibiscus Salon, Cha Cafe and Bistro, I Love Saipan Store, Mango Six, Zeno Corp., Aquasmith, Seawind, Sheila Mabutas, and Hardt Eye Clinic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gary De Guzman and Yulia Aleksenko proved that swimming is not only for the young…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":360615,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-360611","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360611","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\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=360611"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360611\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/360615"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=360611"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=360611"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=360611"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}