By Robert Balajadia

The 44th Hafa Marathon got the weekend started and finishing 1st was the speedy Ryan Matienzo with the unofficial time of 1:15:00 followed closely by Derek Mandell, who finished 2nd with an unofficial time of 1:16:00.

“This is a tune-up for the Guam International Marathon to see where we’re at, and so far training is working fine. I was worried Derek was going to catch me, I pushed as hard as I could to get to the lead and hold on to the lead,” said Matienzo.

The course started from the Andersen Air Force Base front gate and ended at the Beach Bar in Tumon. Matienzo ran into a little trouble at Two Lover’s Point where he lost sight of the course.

“It was too dark, but that’s normal. I missed the turn around point inside Two Lover’s, I went a little further down. It probably docked off half a minute, but that doesn’t really affect anything.”

Matienzo and Mandell are friends outside of the sport, but neither of them want to finish behind the other come race day.

2nd place finisher Derek Mandell stops for a photo op after completing the race. (photo by Robert Balajadia)

“I always want to beat him, I don’t like losing to him,” laughed Mandell. “There’s sometimes unspoken agreements about not pushing it, but big races like this we both know we’re going for it.”

Both runners were sporting their new “Run Guam” tanks, a clothing company which Mandell helped create catered to runners of all sorts.

Finishing as the first female under the time of 1:32:00 was Manami Iijima, who set a personal record by at least 15 minutes, also her first 1st place Hafa Marathon finish.

“I’m very proud of my time and I did better than I expected! It was nice and cool today, the less hotter it is then the better it is for us,” said Iijima.

Iijama also had trouble seeing the Two Lover’s Point route, but her personal time was the best feature of the morning.

Manami Iijima looks ahead as she crosses the finish line as the 1st female. (photo by Robert Balajadia)

Complete Results Coming Soon