By Roselyn B. Monroyo
Variety News Staff

SAIPAN’s veteran triathlete Fred Camacho led the age group winners in the 18th Tagaman Triathlon.
Camacho won the men’s 55 to 59 age group after finishing last Saturday’s race in four hours, 38 minutes, 11 seconds. He timed in at 42:40 in the 2-kilometer swim leg, posted 2:12:23 in the 60-km bike leg and clocked 1:43:08 in the 15-km run leg.
Camacho beat Japanese Fukusige Arriizumi (5:01:09) and Jun Oikawa (5:08:59).
Other top finishers in the men’s division were Manabu Tokita, Fabien Brogard, Takehiro Koshizuka, Christopher Flanagan, Ken Halliday, Paul Chetwynd, Joshua Berger and Syoichiro Ochiai.
In the women’s division, the first placers were Nicole Le Blanc, Misako Iwamato, Kayoko Saito, Fumiko Fuchi and Kumi Murakami.
Tokita topped the 24-and-under division with a time of 3:43:59, while Brogard won in the 25-29 age group after clocking 4:08:47.
Koshizuka beat three other participants in the 30-34 age group posting 3:37:55, while Flanagan lorded it over 10 other triathletes in the 35-39 age group recording 3:26:57.
Tinian’s Halliday clocked 3:50:44 to rule the 40-44 age group, defeating five other triathletes.
Chetwynd bested four other participants in the 45-49 age group with his time of 3:31:58; Berger dominated the 50-54 age group posting 4:30:55 and Ochiai was the lone entry in the 60-and-over division and timed in at 5:03:38.
There were only two entries in the women’s 25-29 age group with Le Blanc beating Nagisa Khono. Le Blanc clocked 4:27:19 against Khono’s 4:48:35.
Iwamoto, who timed in at 4:22:44, won in the 35 -39 age group thwarting Kimiko Hasegawa (4:23:33), while Saito defeated Yoko Igari in the 45-49 age group.
Fuchi and Murakami were the lone entries in the 50-54 and 55-59 age groups, respectively, and timed in at 5:58:05 and 5:08:31.
Australian pro Andrew Noble and Julie Dibens of the United Kingdom ruled the men’s and women’s pro divisions, respectively. They also won the PIC Double awards, which are given to triathletes with the fastest combined time in XTERRA Saipan and the Tagaman races.