{"id":406167,"date":"2024-02-26T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-02-26T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=406167"},"modified":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"-0001-11-29T14:00:00","slug":"Pony-Rex-tie-for-1st-Akiko-tops-Rotaract-5K","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/Pony-Rex-tie-for-1st-Akiko-tops-Rotaract-5K\/","title":{"rendered":"Pony, Rex tie for 1st, Akiko tops Rotaract 5K"},"content":{"rendered":"

In what seems to be the first time, there\u2019s a tie in the men\u2019s division of a foot race\u2014with friends Pony Tang and Rex Pixley running together into first place in the Rotaract Club of Saipan 10 Years of Service 5K Fun Run last Saturday morning at the Garapan Fishing Base.<\/p>\n

Tang and Pixley finished at a time of 18:39.22 each, while Akiko Miller topped the women\u2019s division by just under 19 minutes at 18:59.33.<\/p>\n

Second to Tang and Pixley is Kosuke Sato who clocked in at 18:59.91, and third place was Jordan Ruiz with a time time 19:57.17<\/p>\n

Rosemarie Chisato claimed second place after Miller with a time of 24:25.30, and third was Krizelle Tuazon at 25:31.52.<\/p>\n

Tang and Pixley, both seniors at Marianas High School, said they just wanted to finish in a deadlock. Throughout the race, they took turns with the lead and decided at the last minute to reach the finish line together as they\u2019ve \u201cbeen teammates for a while now and it\u2019s just a fun run,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n

Pixley said of the race, \u201cI like the pathway runs because they\u2019re pretty fast. There\u2019s not much hills,\u201d while Tang said, \u201cthe weather was great for running.\u201d<\/p>\n

Miller, for her part, said that her target time was less than 22 minutes and felt happy with her time. \u201cI was in the lead the whole time and the beginning was too fast for me, but I kept the same pace. It was windy so it was a little bit hard.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for the event, she said, \u201cIt\u2019s very good. I love the shirt and I enjoyed the race.\u201d<\/p>\n

TurnKey Solutions\u2019 Billy Grow said after the race that the sponsorship was spontaneous but was glad Rotaract reached out. \u201cWe wanted to sponsor the event\u2026 I\u2019m just glad that everybody is having a good time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re a sponsor cash-wise, Rotaract is doing everything. \u201cRichard [Baleares] is doing an awesome job and Ed [Dela Cruz] from Run Saipan. Ed and his team were clutch for this whole thing as well,\u201d said Grow.<\/p>\n

Rotaract Club of Saipan president Richard Baleares said the turnout was great and the event successful, with over 100 runners that participated.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf it wasn\u2019t for TurnKey Solutions, Run Saipan, and other Rotaractors, I don\u2019t think it would\u2019ve been as successful as it is,\u201d said Baleares. He added that he won\u2019t be the president for a fourth term as he wants another member to step up and see what they can contribute and offer to the club.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis whole event is my swan song. It\u2019s very special to me because in a way it\u2019s like my farewell as president,\u201d he said. \u201cIt’s just a great way to gather the community together\u2014build goodwill and better friendships just like the Rotary four-way test, and just take care of our cardiovascular health and promote healthy living.<\/p>\n

Rotaract Club of Saipan was chartered in 2014, then rechartered in 2021. According to Rotary International\u2019s website, Rotaract \u201cbrings together people ages 18 and older to exchange ideas with leaders in the community, develop leadership and professional skills, and have fun through service.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rotaract Club of Saipan 10 Years of Service 5K Fun Run Presented by TurnKey Solutions sponsors were bronze sponsors D&Q Saipan, Latte Built, Crowne Plaza Resort Saipan, Coral Ocean Golf Resort, Yaong Corporation, Tan Siu Lin Foundation, Gold’s Gym Saipan, D & W Corporation dba Highway Express, McDonald’s of Saipan, Spicy Thai Saipan, and MEGAbyte of Saipan.<\/p>\n

Silver sponsors were Kentucky Fried Chicken\/Taco Bell\/ Marianas Fast Food Inc, Docomo Pacific, Micronesian Brokers Inc., and Northern Marianas College.<\/p>\n

The gold sponsors were Marianas Variety, Paradise Dental Spa, IT&E, Bridge Capital, and JVR Media.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Rex Pixley, left, and Pony Tang run into first place together in the Rotaract Club of Saipan 10 Years of Service 5K Fun Run last Saturday morning at the Garapan Fishing Base.<\/p>\n

-LEIGH GASES
<\/figcaption><\/figure>

<\/p>\n

Over 100 participants of the Rotaract Club of Saipan 10 Years of Service 5K Fun Run pose for a photo last Saturday morning at the Garapan Fishing Base.<\/p>\n

-CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
<\/figcaption><\/figure>

<\/p>\n

Akiko Miller runs into first place in the women’s division of the Rotaract Club of<\/p>\n

Saipan 10 Years of Service 5K Fun Run last Saturday morning at the Garapan<\/p>\n

Fishing Base.<\/p>\n

-LEIGH GASES
<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In what seems to be the first time, there\u2019s a tie in the men\u2019s division…<\/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-406167","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406167","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=406167"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406167\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=406167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=406167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=406167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}