By Roselyn B. Monroyo
Variety News Staff

THIS year’s XTERRA Saipan will have the greatest pro field ever assembled in six years on the island, according to XTERRA marketing director Trey Garman.
In a telephone interview with the Variety yesterday, Garman said tomorrow’s races will feature 19 professionals and three Olympians.
“This year, we will have the best of the best. We have 19 pros from 12 countries and we can look forward to a great XTERRA Championships tomorrow,” Garman said.
French Olympian Olivier Marceau will be leading the pro field and will be gunning for his fourth straight XTERRA Saipan title.
The 34-year old Cannes native was ranked seventh last year in the XTERRA European Championships and won the Euro title in 2004 and 2005. He was a two-time Olympian representing France in Sydney in 2000 and in Athens in 2004.
Joining him are Great Britain’s Sam Gardner and Jim McConnell, Germany’s Sascha Wingenfield, Hungary’s Zisko Balazs and Japan’s Taro Shirato and Kyosuke Takei.
Three triathletes are expected to slug it out for the women’s division.
Swiss Renata Butcher hopes to defend the title she won in 2005 and 2006 against 2007 XTERRA Guam winner Julie Dibens and three-time XTERRA Saipan (2002-2004) champion Jamie Whitmore.
Butcher was the European Tour champion in 2005 and 2006 and placed second to Dibens on Guam last week.
Whitmore, a four-time XTERRA US champion, will be in her sixth XTERRA Saipan event and is determined to regain the crown she had in three straight years before Butcher came into the picture.
Out to give the two XTERRA Saipan champions a run for their money is Diben, who is one of the two Olympians in the women’s division.
Aside from winning XTERRA Guam this year, Dibens was the 2006 XTERRA Denmark champion, a world champion in 1998 when she was still an amateur.She represented Great Britain in the Athens Olympics in 2004 and was a bronze medalist in the European Championships in 2000.
Bucher’s compatriot Sibylle Matter is the other Olympian in the women’s division.
Matter, a first timer in XTERRA Saipan, but could steal the show from the three favored triathletes with her numerous accomplishments. She placed third overall in last year’s XTERRA Worlds and second at XTERRA Germany and she won XTERRA Spain in 2005. Other pros in the women’s division are Japanese Mami Saito, Yuko Sasaki and Megumi Miyaura and Hungary’s Eszter Erdelyi.
The top winners in the women’s and men’s divisions will receive $2,500 each, while the second to seventh placers will also get cash prizes.
Meanwhile, Grey is inviting the public to watch the races at American Memorial Park and join tomorrow’s festivities.
Aside from the pro event, XTERRA Saipan organizers will also hold the XTERRA Sport for amateurs and free Kids Bike Race tomorrow.
“We are expecting around 200 participants for all our races tomorrow,” Garman said.
Today, XTERRA Saipan will be holding a 5k/10k Sunset Trail Walk/Run with the proceeds from the event going to the Commonwealth Diabetes Coalition.