{"id":387608,"date":"2023-03-20T06:01:22","date_gmt":"2023-03-19T20:01:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=387608"},"modified":"2023-03-20T06:01:22","modified_gmt":"2023-03-19T20:01:22","slug":"no-saipan-marathon-this-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/no-saipan-marathon-this-year\/","title":{"rendered":"No Saipan Marathon this year"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/a>
A file photo from last year\u2019s Saipan Marathon that only hosted a half marathon, 10K, and 5K races. (MVA)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Marianas Visitors Authority has scrapped this year\u2019s Saipan Marathon due to budgetary constraints.\u00a0<\/p>\n

While a media release from the CNMI tourism body announced that the signature event\u2019s cancellation is caused by \u201cbudget adjustments delaying adequate planning time for a favorable season for international participation,\u201d\u00a0 MVA acting managing director Judy Torres elaborated more on the decision.<\/p>\n

\u201cDue to our limited funding available for this fiscal year, coupled with prioritization of funds to increase overall visitor arrivals, MVA has made the difficult decision to cancel\u00a0 the Saipan Marathon this year,\u201d she said in an email to Saipan Tribune.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Torres said because of the budget adjustment that was brought about by the inability of American Rescue Plans Act funds, the earliest MVA could now organize and promote the Saipan Marathon for visitors would be in the summer.<\/p>\n

She, however, contended that the timing will be then off as the summer, \u201cis both too hot for serious competitors and also unpredictable due to the rainy season.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Torres then asked for the running community and stakeholders\u2019 understanding as they had to make the tough decision to cancel the Saipan Marathon, which returned last year albeit just the half marathon, 10K, and 5K versions of the event.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe realize this is a much anticipated sporting event for both international marathoners and our local runners, but at this time our resources must be devoted to obtaining the highest return on investment, with the goal of increasing government and private sector revenue.\u00a0 We are looking toward organizing the event for 2024,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Now three-time Women\u2019s 10K Run winner Lily Muldoon was disappointed to learn that the Saipan Marathon is being canceled this year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a runner and advocate for health in the CNMI, I support organized races that get community members inspired and out moving their bodies.\u00a0 The changing economic climate can lead to increasing stress and levels of anxiety. Exercise is an important stress management tool that is healthy for our bodies and our minds,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The medical director of the Division of Public Health at the Commonwealth Healthcare Corp. said in lieu of the Saipan Marathon, she enjoined the running community to partake of other exercise ideas like Zumba, the local soccer league, discovering pickleball, and going for an evening walk with your family.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course, Run Saipan is always hosting energizing races. Come check out our group doing one to two events per month!\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Triathlon Association of the CNMI president Manny Sitchon said he can\u2019t really blame the MVA for canceling the Saipan Marathon this year as you need a full six months to promote it overseas. He said having no budget also always derails everything.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Runner Matthew Furan couldn\u2019t hide his frustration for having no Saipan Marathon this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cAny marathon takes months of preparation. With the anticipation of the island hosting a marathon, it was a goal I was working toward and prepared for. Sadly, this is just another event that loses out to the bad stewardship displayed on the island.\u00a0 Nevertheless, I run to better myself and will continue to do so,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Stephen Dame, who like Furan is a pastor of a local church, said he was really looking forward to the 2023 Saipan Marathon so he could check it off his bucket list as he recovers from a serious injury.<\/p>\n

\u201cI understand that the funds aren\u2019t there for the marathon but wish they had attempted to get sponsors or something. I trained really hard up until I heard it was canceled and then backed off my training. I was never a threat to win or even place, but wanted to finish as one more milestone in my recovery from my back injury. Again, not so much for \u2018look at what I\u2019ve done\u2019 but look at what God has brought me from. I stopped the training because at my age and with my injury, I am afraid I only have one shot at this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rosemarie Chisato also felt frustrated by the cancellation, joking that a lot of her toenails have died due to training for the Saipan Marathon.\u00a0<\/p>\n

CNMI national athletics team mainstay Sildrey Veloria, for his part, said the 2023 edition of the event was supposed to be his chance for redemption.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was excited at first because the event was coming up. I did a bad job the last time, so I wanted to make up for it at the half marathon. But I guess I\u2019ll have to wait until next year. I\u2019ve been training consistently for the half marathon and the world\u2019s cross country for about three months,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Marianas Visitors Authority has scrapped this year\u2019s Saipan Marathon due to budgetary constraints.\u00a0 While…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":387593,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-387608","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\/387608","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=387608"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/387608\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/387593"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=387608"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=387608"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=387608"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}