{"id":401157,"date":"2023-11-13T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-11-13T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=401157"},"modified":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"-0001-11-29T14:00:00","slug":"Leo-Wania-is-solo-triathlete","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/Leo-Wania-is-solo-triathlete\/","title":{"rendered":"Leo Wania is solo triathlete"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In a big undertaking, veteran triathlete Leo Wania is Team Marianas\u2019 solo representative for triathlon in the Pacific Mini Games in Honiara, Solomon Islands that will be held from Nov. 19 to Dec. 2.<\/p>\n<p>Triathlon consists of the trifecta of swimming, cycling, and running.<\/p>\n<p>Wania said in an interview after the Pacific Games sendoff ceremony last Wednesday at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium, despite being the lone wolf, he is excited to compete in his first Pacific Games since 1999.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI&#8217;m very excited. This is the first time in a long time that I&#8217;m going to participate in the Pacific Games. It\u2019s quite a challenging order to take, going by myself as a solo triathlete. I&#8217;m feeling good about it\u2014I&#8217;ll just do my best.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As for his training, he said he\u2019s been in contact with his coach, Mick Ferris, from Australia\u2014who also helped coach the CNMI triathletes during the 2022 Northern Marianas Pacific Mini Games. \u201cHe has been giving me some pointers for my solo training, so for now, it\u2019s pretty good,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>On why he\u2019s the only athlete for triathlon, he said the other athletes are competing in other sports where they feel they have better chances for winning gold. He said others didn\u2019t participate due to family ties. \u201cThat\u2019s the thing about sports. You have to sacrifice your family for sports, and fortunately for me, my kids are pretty much adults and I have time to compete in triathlons\u2014it\u2019s something I love to do.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Besides competing in Honiara, Wania said he is participating in a triathlon officiating course, after which he can be a certified triathlon official and will be able to officiate the sport wherever they might need one.<\/p>\n<p>For the 2022 Northern Marianas Pacific Mini Games, Wania, along with Isaiah Aleksenko, Kathy Ruszala, and Heather Brook, took home the bronze medal.<\/p>\n<p>Besides triathlon, Team Marianas is competing in nine other sports: volleyball, tennis, weightlifting, va\u2019a, golf, athletics, swimming, bodybuilding, and soccer.<\/p>\n<p><h4>Tarkong\u2019s message<\/h4>\n<\/p>\n<p>Before the presentation of athletes, va\u2019a coach\/athlete Jason Tarkong made his special remarks.<\/p>\n<p>He said that the athletes have worked so hard and sacrificed a lot to get where they are. He added that they will be far from home and will be celebrating Thanksgiving away from family.<\/p>\n<p>He added that despite their sacrifices, \u201cWe have a great opportunity to participate against the region\u2019s best.\u201d He then quoted Muhammad Ali and said, \u201cDon\u2019t quit, suffer now, and live the rest of your life as a champion.\u201d<\/p>\n<p> <figure style=\"width: 480px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/images\/imgupload\/b7c827b5c99cacd9ff611de231e0cc87.jpg\" width=\"480\" height=\"360\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><\/p>\n<p>CNMI triathlete Leo Wania holds up his left index finger to show he&#8217;s the lone triathlete competing in the Pacific Games in the Solomon Islands from Nov. 19 to Dec. 2 during the Pacific Games sendoff ceremony at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium last Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p>-LEIGH GASES<br \/><\/figcaption><\/figure> <figure style=\"width: 480px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/images\/imgupload\/3f2e7f3c667fa579a28a81d1cccad27a.jpg\" width=\"480\" height=\"360\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><\/p>\n<p>CNMI&#8217;s longtime athlete and va&#8217;a coach\/athlete gives his special remarks during the Pacific Games sendoff ceremony last Wednesday at the Gilbert C. Ada Gymnasium.<\/p>\n<p>-LEIGH GASES<br \/><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In a big undertaking, veteran triathlete Leo Wania is Team Marianas\u2019 solo representative for triathlon&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-401157","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401157","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\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=401157"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401157\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=401157"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=401157"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=401157"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}