The flipper race, Tenorio said has actually been a long time sport in Japan where swimmers of all ages can participate.
Japan Central Sports, a group of flipper swimmers sent dozens of its members, many of them are in 60s who joined the swim around Managaha. Along with local swimmers most of whom are youth, they swam the 1.5 kilometer circumference of the island.
Tenorio said it was the visiting swimmers’ first international open water race outside their regular setting which is in Japan.
With that, he said “we’re hoping that the beauty of the island, they will take that with them and share it with their family and friends back home and they would consider coming back.”
Since it is most likely to happen, Tenorio said flipper race will be one of the signature sport events on Saipan.
The, he said venue is appropriate and beautiful.
“We’ll just have to get the inputs from the members of Japan’s Central Sports if we need to consider other locations. But I think this is an ideal location,” he added.
And that was despite the jelly fish attack that affected most of the swimmers. Tenorio said it was an unfortunate thing but he noted almost all the participants completed the race despite the sting.
This event, though, is a lot more easier than other sports on Saipan, Tenorio said and including both young and elders added up to the beauty of the sports.
Rezne Wong led the swim up to several meters from the start line.
The 18-year old ace swimmer who was not spared by jelly fish attack managed lagged behind Shin Kimura and Yusuke Kaneko but managed to take the lead again a few meters to the finish line.
Wong finished the race in 19.32 minutes and Kimura was just seven seconds behind followed by Kaneko who was a second behind him.
Among 24 female swimmers, 10-year-old Angel Marie Tan was 33 second behind first placer, 31-year-old Sachiko Zusuki of Japan.
