By Roselyn B. Monroyo
Variety News Staff

PROFESSIONAL triathletes who will be competing in the 2007 XTERRA Championships Saipan have started arriving since Tuesday in time for this Saturday’s biggest triathlon event on the island.
Defending men’s and women’s champions Oliver Marceau of France and Renate Butcher of Switzerland arrived two days ago along with triathletes from the US, Japan, Great Britain and South Africa.
A day after arriving on Saipan, 2004 champion Jamie Whitmore hit the road, as she joined four other participants in biking from Micro Beach to Mt. Tapochao yesterday.
Whitmore, a California native, was with Courtney Cardenas and Great Britain’s Julie Dibens, Samuel Gardner and Jim McConnell.
This will be Dibens’ first time to join the XTERRA Saipan and she will be a big threat to Butcher and Whitmore.
Dibens, who won the 2006 XTERRA Denmark and is an Olympic triathlon topped the XTERRA Guam last Saturday clocking two hours, 15 minutes, 58 seconds.
Incidentally, she beat Butcher (2:17:30) and Whitmore (2:18:22) in the Guam tournament.
“I’d like to say I will win, but you can never tell. But what I am sure of is this will be a close race,” said the Bath-native Dibens, who will also compete in next weekend’s Tagaman.
Dibens is only in her second year in XTERRA Championships, but she has had so many accomplishments in the sport for the past eight years.
She placed second in XTERRA France last year and seventh in the XTERRA Europen Tour. She was a bronze medalist in the European Championships in 200 0 and an Olympic team member in 2004.
Diben’s compatriot Gardner will be one of Marceau’s toughest competitors this year.
The Egham, Surrey-native finished second behind Marceau on Guam with his time of 2:05:27. Marceau crossed the finished line at the 2:01:49 mark.
McConnell placed third on Guam with his time of 2:14:18.
Other notable men’s pros who will challenge Marceau are Germany’s Sascha Wingenfield, Hungary’s Zisko Balazs and Japan’s Taro Shirato and Kyosuke Takei.
The women’s field will also have Swiss’ Sibylle Matter, Japanese Mami Saito, Yuko Sasaki and Megumi Miyaura and Hunary’s Eszter Erdelyi.
This Saturday’s races will start as early as 6:30 a.m. at Micro Beach.
The registration will run from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. with the XTERRA Championship race starting at 8 a.m.
Participants will begin with the 1.5km swim leg with competitors swimming in two laps of a 750-meter triangular course off Micro Beach.
The 30k-bike leg is next and will be from Micro Beach to Mt. Tapochao.
The last part will be the run leg, which will have a distance of 12 kilometers and will take participants back to the American Memorial Park, on which the finish line is located.
There will also be side events set for this Saturday with the XTERRA Sport, which will have a shorter distance than the championship, starting at 8:05 a.m.
The Kids’ Bike Race at Micro Beach will begin at 9 a.m.