REPRESENTING the CNMI, Denise Myers competed in the 2022 Oceania Triathlon Pacific Island Championships in Nadi, Fiji and placed fifth in the elite women division on Sunday, Dec. 18.
Denise Myers makes her way out of the water after completing the swimming portion of the 2022 Oceania Triathlon Pacific Island Championships in Nadi, Fiji on Sunday, Dec. 18, 2022.
“When the Triathlon Association of the CNMI offered me this great learning opportunity I was stoked for the chance to go learn about triathlon — the race was just icing on the cake,” Myers told Variety.
“I was proud to be there representing the CNMI and am excited to bring back and share some of my new skills with everyone here,” she added.
The 33-year-old health and physical education instructor at Northern Marianas College completed the course with a time of 00:45:56 — 00:08:22 in the 400m swim, 00:24:37 in the 10K bike, and 00:12:57 in the 10K run.
Myers said the swimming portion “was definitely the toughest because the other athletes were mainly all coming from the sport of swimming so they’re incredible!”
She added, “I was trying to figure out how to stay with someone throughout the swim so I could catch more people on the next two legs.”
She said the race featured professionals and newbies so her main goal was to get as close as she could to the professionals.
Myers said she was prepared for the race but “the travel [to Fiji] was total insanity. It took a day and a half going in opposite directions to get there!”
Still, she said she is very appreciative and honored to be given the chance to compete and represent the CNMI.
“And the hosts were no short of phenomenal! Both Oceania Triathlon and Fiji Triathlon are packed with incredible people like Trisa, Michelle, Angus and Ian who made the trip wonderful not just for me, but for everyone — their graciousness was amazing. And Coach Toby was very patient giving me…swim lessons in the hotel pool. Fiji itself is quite a lovely place!”
The top four in the elite women division were Guam’s Manami Iijima who clocked 00:38:06; Tahiti’s Maidi Susset, 00:40:44; Fiji’s Katie Madison Pattie, 00:41:02; and Tahiti’s Anais Uris-Catalan, 00:42:42.
In the elite men division, Samoa’s Jett Curteis led the pack with a time of 00:39:39, followed by Fiji’s Nikotimasi Croker (00:41:53), Fiji’s Christian Rokoua (00:42:55), Solomon Islands’ Timson Irowane (00:44:03), and Tonga’s Luca De Winne (00:45:23).
