This was the Japanese triathlete’s third time to participate in Saipan’s 20th invitational Tagaman where about 50 other triathletes from Saipan and other countries raced in the two- kilometer swim, 60-km bike and 15-km run courses.
Matsumaru placed second during last year’s and 2007’s Tagaman.
Matsumaru was two seconds behind Andrew Noble towards the bike course but he caught up on him early on to lead the race all the way to the finish line.
He finished in 26:51, and despite a slight injury in the left leg, he managed to maintain the lead in the bike (1:33:53) and run (58:56) courses to win the race with an over all time of 2:59:41.
“This year is my first time to win the first place,” he said.
English triathlete, Sam Gardner who won last April 18’s XTERRA trailed Matsumaru and was able to get closer by two minutes in the run-course.
“I don’t have to blame the heat this time,” Gardner said, “because there were shades along the routes so there’s no excuse.”
Matsumaru, he said was “pretty good” in the swim where he was about three to four minutes behind the Japanese competitor.
On a bike, Gardner said he caught up on Andrew Noble but was in second place with Matsumaru who was still leading the race about two to three minutes ahead of him.
Gardner made his way to the bike course at 30:47 and finished it in 1:32:20. He spent 58:56, exactly the same amount of time that Matsumaru finished the run-course.
He said got too close to the Japanese triathlete in the run-course “but I just couldn’t.”
Jim McConnel who finished sixth in EXTERRA found last Saturday’s Tagaman a “different kind of race,” which he is not used to. He placed fifth this time.
“I prefer the XTERRA because it’s off road,” McConnel said.
He also thinks having different competitors this time make it tougher for him to finish first, plus, “we have strong runners here.”
McConnely added that he had good time training on Saipan as the people are friendly.
Renata Bucher repeated her performance in XTERRRA and won the Tagaman first place with an over all time of 3:28:18.
She was the first female and fifth participant to have made it to bike course on the 31st minute.
Tagaman she said is definitely much harder, than XTERRA.
“I was happy, I had a good swim,” she said and then, on the bike, “it’s just long and hard riding against the wind.”
Bucher who completed the bike course in 1:44:17 added, “it’s kind of hard to run in the asphalt.
“It’s a different route and I was happy to come back,” she said.
Saipan’s Mieko Carey placed second with an over all time of 3:32:58.
Carey finished the swim course in 31 minutes and 56 seconds; the bike course in 1:50:37 and the run-course, 1:10: 25.
In relays, the team of Rezne Wong, Renato Calage and Cesar Danao won the first place. The team that originally had Mathew Mancao in, won the 2009 XTERRA.
With Mancao joining and eventually placed second in the 24-and-under men’s division, Rezne Wong’s team finished the entire course in 3:23:03.
Wong made to the bike course in 25 minutes and 25 second, Calage finished the bike in 1:49:23 and Danao completed the run in 1:08:15.
