Jody O’Sullivan and Victor Nash Santos pose with their gold (half marathon) and silver (10km) medals after completing the Skechers Saipan Marathon 2025 at Micro Beach on Saturday morning.
Noriko and Takeru Jim pose for a photo while holding their gold medals in the half marathon and 5km events of the Skechers Saipan Marathon 2025 at Micro Beach on Saturday morning
VISITING runners from Japan dominated the full marathon, but local competitors had their fair share of the spotlight in the Skechers Saipan Marathon 2025, with Jody O’Sullivan and Noriko Jim winning gold medals in their respective divisions in the half marathon at Micro Beach on Saturday morning.
The half marathon was a 13.1-mile course from Micro Beach to the turning point in Marpi and back, similar to last year’s course.
O’Sullivan successfully defended his half marathon title after finishing first overall with a time of 1:25:54 — over two minutes behind his last year’s time of 1:23:41.
In second place was Lee Sang-Gun (1:34:33) while Landen Taflinger came in third (1:37:22).
“It [the run] was really good,” O’Sullivan said. Prior to the race, he feared that, because it had been windy all week, he would face a strong headwind throughout the race. Fortunately, that was not the case. “It was beautiful, the running conditions, exactly the same as last year — they were both beautiful.” O’Sullivan said.
He held the lead throughout most of the race but lacked confidence, saying, “Honestly, I haven’t trained as much as I did last year.” He said he started with the idea of “smashing” the first half and trying to hold on.
“Once I got to the turnaround, I took my time to look around and when I saw people that I knew who were doing the half, I was like, ‘Okay, I got a bit of a cushion.’ ”
For O’Sullivan, the toughest part was the turnaround at Wing Beach where he ran over a cone.
Other winners
Taking first place in the women’s division was Noriko Jim with a time of 1:45:11. Kwak Hoonjoo (1:52:18) came in second while Fushiki Reiko (1:53:26) finished third.
“I’m just lucky to win first place,” Jim said. “It was very exciting this morning. Last year I won second place but this year, I was lucky to win first place. I just kept running and focused on my watch.”
In the full marathon distance, Hiroki Nakajima won first place in the men’s division with a time of 2:29:25 followed by Yuki Kaneyama (2:40:24), and Shohei Miyamoto (6:44:13). Hiroki’s wife, Tomomi, bagged her second full marathon title with a time of 3:08:31 followed by Kim Yun Jin (3:33:18), and Heather Brook (3:37:36).
In the 10km, Saito Genta finished first in the men’s division with a time of 36:16 followed by Victor Nash Santos (37:09), and Eldon Egbert (39:12). Akiko Miller led the women’s division with a time of 44:08 followed by Lydia Ha-Eum Ro (44:34), and Kim Yang Hee (45:11).
In the 5km distance, Takeru Jim led the men’s division with a time of 18:43 followed by Michael Miller (18:50), and Rex Pixley (19:35). The women’s division was led by Suzuki Konomi with a time of 24:41 followed by Paylor Egbert (25:06), and Cambrie Egbert (25:15).
