Gardner who placed second in 2007 championship and failed to make it to the top three last year went against the odds this time reaching the finish line at the American Memorial Park first in the men’s pro division in 2:34:32.
“It was hot and hard but I just ran as fast as I could,” Gardner said as he recalled how he tried so hard to stretch his distance from Canada’s Mike Vine, Germany’s Sascha Wingerfeld, who also went past 2008 champion, Australia’s Andrew Noble.
Vine and Noble beat Gardner in the swim course about a minute or so, but the English triathlete managed to catch both them in the bike-run near the King Fisher Golf Links.
Of course, those behind him were having the same ordeal from the oppressive heat of the sun.
Vine said he just came from a cold winter in Canada so when the sun started beating down, “I started to overheat so I had to slow down.”
That was the moment Gardner went by.
Although he managed to stay near him for a while, Vine said Gardner was “flying” on the bike so there was no question about that.
Vine who finished second with 2:37:18 said he also staggered in the jungle during the run-course.
U.S.A’s Noble felt the searing heat right during the bike course and found himself being passed by thirty minutes to the run out.
And when he figured out he was trailing those guys, he decided to just finish the run. He finished fourth with 2:46:37, behind Wingerfeld who reached the finish line at 2:43:26.
“It’s very hot. I just wanted to finish today. Mike passed me first, then, Sam Gardner, and then, Sascha,” Noble recalled.
“I only came yesterday so I was not used to the heat,” he added.
Japan’s Takahiro Ogasawara who finished third last year lagged to fifth place this time with 2:48:15.
In women’s pro division, Switzerland’s Renata Bucher who was just a breath behind UK’s Julie Dibens when they both made their way to the run course finished first with 2:56:55 depending her XTERRA crown for the fourth time since she first won the title in 2005.
Bucher knew she was just half a minute behind Dibens. So, doing her strongest part, she tried to feel like a rabbit and caught the English pro in the uphill then, “I never looked back.”
Dibens came second with 3:05:24 and Shonny Vanlandingham of Honaunau, Hawaii settled for third reaching the finish line at 3:04:46.
Aside from the sweltering heat of the sun, Saipan’s pride, Mieko Carey also had to endure the pain from the abrasions she sustained in the left side of her torso.
She arrived at the finish line fourth, clutching her bleeding left side of the body, at 3:44:56.
In the XTERRA Sports, Kieran Daly of Saipan finished first in the 45 and above division with an overall time of 2:00:02.
He had the same complain.
“The run was kind of really hot and it’s coming through,” says Daly, as he narrate he tried to endure the extremely heat while being able to see the finish line.
He said he was just glad it was a short run unlike the bike course which he thinks was the toughest part.
However, he said “it’s in the bike course where I really got away. It’s such a nice bike course today because last year, it’s really muddy,” he said.
