XTERRA Saipan: Noble wins, Bucher extends reign

By JON PEREZ
jon_perez@saipantribune.com
REPORTER

Andrew Noble of Australia and Renata Bucher of Switzerland returned victoriously on Saipan yesterday besting a smaller field of professional triathletes in the 7th XTERRA Saipan Championship and claim the first half of the Pacific Islands Club Double.

While Noble climbed from third to first to win his first XTERRA Saipan title, it was Bucher’s fourth straight crown since dethroning former three-time winner Jamie Whitmore in 2005.

Noble, who placed third behind three-time XTERRA Saipan champion Switzerland’s Olivier Marceau and Great Britain’s Sam Gardner last year, had a blistering time of two hours, 46 minutes, and 51 seconds in crossing the finish line at the American Memorial Park, which was the sight of the past six editions of XTERRA Saipan.

Marceau opted to skip this year’s XTERRA Saipan to concentrate more in an Olympic-distance triathlon in Mooloolaba, Australia in order to qualify for the Swiss National Olympic triathlon team in time for the Beijing Olympics, while Great Britain’s Julie Dibbens and three-time XTERRA Saipan women’s titlist and 2004 XTERRA World champion Jamie Whitmore were injured while training.

Bucher recovered from a slow start in the swim leg of the race, hammering away in the bike and trail run sections to post the fastest time among female competitors, 3:12:46.

Overnight showers made the bike and trail sections a little bit difficult for all participants to complete as the rain made the ground slippery and damp. The wet course could have affected Noble’s and Bucher’s time.

Their times were not the best compared to last year. Noble was seven minutes short of his previous record of 2:39:56, while Bucher failed to go under three hours this year after an XTERRA Saipan record of 2:45:08 last year.

Noble was unstoppable from the start of the race completing the 1.5-kilometer swim around the buoys off Micro Beach in 19:27 then continued to distance himself in the bike leg when he returned to AMP after 1:33:47.

The 16th Tagaman Triathlon defending champion Noble completed the grueling race when he came out of the jungle trail run—which tested the participants’ endurance as they maneuvered under roots, branches, and a cave along Mt. Tapochao—in 53:37.

Former XTERRA Amateur World Champion and 2006 Ironman Florida third place finisher Jim Vance of the United States placed second to Noble with a time of 2:58:07. He was just 20 seconds behind Noble after the swim section but could not catch up with the Australian in the bike leg completing the 30-km course in 1:39:17, which is third best behind Japan’s Takahiro Ogasawara’s 1:36:06 time.

Vance was lagging behind Ogasawara after the bike leg but managed to overtake and beat the Japanese in the trail run. Ogasawara placed third overall with a combined time of 3:03:09 (23:38 swim, 1:36:06 bike, and 1:03:25 run).

Bucher had 2007 XTERRA World Saipan qualifier Mieko Carey as her lone opponent. At first, Carey held the upper hand in their two-cornered fight but failed to match Bucher’s intensity midway in the bike leg.

Carey was ahead almost two minutes to Bucher after the swim section as the longtime Saipan resident came out of the water in 22:31, while the Swiss logged in a time of 24:05.

Bucher then hopped on her bike, which is her strongest discipline, and caught up with Carey midway on Mt. Tapochao and completely broke loose, heading back into the run transition area at AMP.

She completed the bike in 1:45:09 for an almost 15-minute lead over Carey’s 2:01:34 time. Bucher then held on to a 6:02 lead over Carey in the run finishing in 1:03:32 against the 1:09:34 of her opponent.

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