Among the group is Korean cyclist Seo Joon Yong, who posted 3:02:52 to beat Australia’s Malcolm Rudolph and Russia’s Konstantin Fast to the finish line last year.
The men’s open champion however, will be seeing some new faces on Saturday.
Joining him on the track is Australian Matthew Wood, member of Cycling Queensland’s Team Budget Forklifts. A 14-year veteran in the sport, Wood topped the 2009 Rockhampton Cup on Wheels and 2009 Townsville Cup on Wheels.
The 27-year-old cyclist joined the Queensland Track National Team in 2006, 2007, and 2008 before competing with Dutch team Aulti Power in Africa, Europe, Asia, and the United States. Wood won the Ambruzzio Cup three times and ranked first in the Queensland Metropolitan Criterium Championship and QLD Metropolitan Road Race Championship last year.
Another newcomer, 24-year-old Jack Anderson, will appear in tomorrow’s starting line. Anderson joined the U.S. Fracor — an Italian amateur team — in 2008 and raced for the Australian Pro Continental Squad Team Budget Forklifts in 2009. He won in the Oceania 23-and-under Time Trial Championships and Australian Open ITT Championships, among other events.
Anderson joined the Endura Racing team this year and returned from Europe to race in the Jayco Herald Sun Tour with the Australian National Team.
Ji Haeng Choi, winner of the 6th Seoul Rally last October, will represent Korea alongside Yong and national pro Jung Hwan Youm.
Fast, who placed fourth in the men’s open division in 2010, will also return this year.
The women’s pro category includes Jodie Willett of Australia, Seoul Rally winner Chan Hee Hwang, Russia’s Natalia Zakharva and Saipan’s very own Mieko Carey. Willett, a pro mountain biker, will compete in the road bike division. Zakharva finished second in Russia’s Summer Youth Games in 2010 and is a member of her country’s national team for 2012.
“I am so excited to join HOM as my last race for 2011. I’m not thinking of how the race will be. I’ll just have fun and share the race with my friends,” Carey told Variety.
The current course record of 3:02:22 — set be former Saipan physician Eli Torgeson — will be put to the test once again.
Local amateur cyclists Lewie Tenorio and Butch Sublemente and Guam’s Peter Lombard, Ben Ferguson, David Spelger, Cameron O’Neil, and Derek Horton are also expected this weekend.
$1,500 and a trophy await the winners in the men and women’s open road bike divisions.
The race starts at 6:15 a.m. tomorrow at Pacific Islands Club. The course stretches to Koblerville, San Vicente, Papago, and Kagman and ends with a tour around Suicide Cliff, Bird Island, Grotto, and Banzai Cliff. Cyclists will dash through Beach Road before returning to PIC.
