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Paddleboards and athletes lined the beach in preparation for Guam’s first ever tri-aquathon race at Outrigger Guam Resort beach. (courtesy photo)

PRESS RELEASE – The Guam Triathlon Federation held the first ever Tri-Aquathon and annual Aquathon races early Sunday morning at the Outrigger Guam Resort hotel beach.  The Aquathon, which started at 7am, featured a 1,000 meter ocean swim followed by a 5k beach run to Matapang beach and back.  The Tri-Aquathon started shortly after the Aquathon finished and included a 500 meter swim, 1,500 meter stand up paddleboard, and 3k beach run.

Ijima, Lombard Win Aquathon

Former standout Tarakito Swim Club swimmer Mana Ijima held off defending Guam National Triathlon Champion Aysha Perez for the win in the female division.  Ijima came out with a good lead after the swim and had a solid run time to keep her first place position at the finish line.  In similar fashion, Guam’s recent Pacific Islands Triathlon Champion Gabe Lombard was able to maintain just enough separation on a hard charging Charlie Epperson to take home first place honors in the men’s race.

“It was a great race with beautiful weather and a great turn out,” Lombard said. “I should probably thank John Aquino for trashing Charlie’s running legs for me at the 5k yesterday,” he added.

National Triathletes Win Tri-Aquathon
Guam national team triathletes Cameron O’neal and Aysha Perez, who doubled up on both races in the morning, were able to take home the first ever Tri-Aquathon race crown.  In a competitive field of strong stand up paddle boarders, both triathletes were able to make up ground on the run portion of the race and come in first place in their respective divisions.

“It’s a team effort, but we’re really happy to host the first ever Tri-Aquathon in Guam,” said GTF President Mark Cruz, “and we hope to add more events like this in the future to our schedule”.

“We want to thank Outrigger for allowing us to use their facilities, Market Wholesale Distributors and the SUP Guam 671 organization for being a huge reason why both races were a success today, everyone had a blast,” Cruz added.

Official times for individuals and relay teams were unavailable at the time of the press release.

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