After sweating it out on the road, two members of the Saipan cyclers, Butch Sublemente and Ronald Villafria emerged the champions, finishing the 8.5-mile distance in 47:56 and 47:23 minutes, respectively. The duo beat the projected average finishing time of 1:05 hours and bested 19 other teams.
Coming in a few minutes late forfeited the chance for most of the Saipan Cyclers to compete in yesterday’s race.
The Leapfrog race kicked off at 6:30 a.m. at Paupau Beach stretching to the junction of Kalabera Road-Pale Arnold Road, Banzai Cliff and back to the start off point.
Sublemente and Villafria each won a certificate for free dental check-up and treatment.
Husband and wife tandem Kevin and Mieko Carey grabbed the second place, both finishing the race in 49:01 minutes. Coming in third were partners Yoshio Gabaldon and Russ Quinn, posting a record of 47:45 and 49:41 minutes, respectively.
The Leapfrog race brought together a merry mix of mountain bikers, road bikers and roadrunners with ages ranging from 14 to 60 years old.
A sweaty but beaming Sublemente told the media that having a good start is their strategy in winning the race.
The duo had been regular competitors in similar races on island, like the Taga-man and the X-terra.
“An ideal partner combination and working together with the same goal contributed to our winning the championship,” Sublemente said.
He added that they joined the race just for fun but previous experiences and constant practice kept them conditioned enough to land the first place in the race.
Leapfrog is a two person team who alternates between the bike and the run leg portion of the game. All the bike contenders start at the same time, leaving the bike at the designated exchange point. The biker then begins running. When his partner reaches the bike, passes his partner and leaves the bike at the next exchange point.
All the participants repeated the process until the teams complete the 10 exchange points located at about a half mile apart.
Joshua Berger said that he was surprised and pleased at the good turnout of the participants.
“More people showed up than what we expected and we are happy for this. For sure we will be doing this again in the future, and with more challenges cooked up for the participants,” he said.
Race coordinator Fred Camacho said the race was fun, challenging but tiring.
“We will be doing it again and we expect a bigger number of participants,” he said.
Major sponsors of the race were Hardt Eye Clinic, Romy’s Bike Shop, Pacific Islands Club, Bankpacific, Dr. Irma Halaby, Dr. Edgar Tudor, Saipan Cellular Communications, law offices of Eric Smith, and the Marianas Eye Institute.
