Samuel Zhu raises his arms as he crosses the finish line of the inaugural Run Saipan Holiday Half Marathon on Saturday at Banzai Cliff.
Savannah Grant crosses the finish line of the inaugural Run Saipan Holiday Half Marathon on Saturday at Banzai Cliff.
SAMUEL Zhu and Savannah Grant ruled their respective divisions in the Run Saipan Holiday Half Marathon on Saturday.
The half marathon started at 5:30 a.m. at Sugar Dock and stretched north to the finish line at Banzai Cliff with a total of 71 runners taking on the tough challenge.
Sixteen-year-old Samuel Zhu of Agape Christian School was the first to cross the finish line with a time of 01:51:07.
“It was very hard,” he said. “It was nice but very challenging.”
Asked what was the toughest part of the course, he said, “It was not knowing when the race will end. I just kept telling myself to get to the finish line.”
Zhu did not want to join the half marathon but he said his schoolmates encouraged him to take on the challenge.
Finishing second and third places were his fellow Agape students Stephen Chen (01:51:46) and Jireh Wang (01:51:54).
“We joined because we wanted to take on a challenge, especially while they are still young,” Agape Pastor Pang said. “If you don’t try, you will never know your potential. It’s a matter of discovering and training.”
Women’s division
In the women’s division, Savannah Grant claimed first place with a finish time of 02:05:56.
“Honestly, it’s better than I thought,” she said, referring to the course. “I haven’t run a half [marathon] in a while so the flat part of the course was really nice and it wasn’t as windy. It was just this little part at the end that got my legs.”
Grant’s last half marathon race was 10 years ago. She has been on island for a year now, and the holiday half marathon is her first competition on Saipan.
In second place is veteran runner Rosemarie Chisato with a time of 02:10:32 followed by Emma Pang in third with a time of 02:12:59.
“I would like to recognize the help and cooperation of DPS, DFEMS, the Saipan Mayor’s Office, Homeland Security and the Marianas High School’s Dolphin Battalion. Because of all these agencies, we were able to hold simultaneous races,” said Run Saipan President Edward Dela Cruz Jr.
The event’s main sponsors were Run Saipan, Atkins Kroll and Northern Marianas Athletics.
The top finishers of the age divisions and the 5.5K race will be featured in Variety’s next edition.
