GUAM TRIATHLON FEDERATION PRESS RELEASE – Sunday’s Olympic Distance Guam International Triathlon was the biggest triathlon of the year for our island, hosting 45 international athletes from Japan and Korea along with 63 local participants. The weather was a concern this weekend as Tropical Storm Champi was still affecting Guam. Race morning started out windy and rainy, but the rain let up before the swim started at 6:30am.

The water at Port Authority Beach was a little rough, with waves breaking over the athletes in parts of the 2 lap course. This combined with a low tide over the coral outcroppings made for an exciting swim! Local triathlete, Tommy Imazu came out of the water first, finishing the swim course in just over 14 minutes, one minute ahead of Guam’s professional female triathlete Mieko Carey.

As the athletes transitioned to the extremely hilly 24 mile bike course through Cross Island Road and Yona, the winds remained strong while the temperature and humidity were high as well which ensured this would not be an easy race. By the end of the bike course, Mieko Carey was leading the race with around three minutes between her and the next athletes.

Mieko maintained that lead throughout the challenging 6.4 mile run course around Leo Palace Resort to take the overall win for the second year in a row with a blistering time of 2 hours and 18 minutes.

Meanwhile, the men’s race leaders were battling it out on the run course. Local triathletes Shin Miyagi, Cameron O’Neal and Matt Mlachak were fighting for the lead, passing each other back and forth throughout the entire run. Shin dealt with leg cramps early on, but came back to put the pressure on Cameron and Matt. The final part of the run course was a brutal one mile long uphill section to the finish line. At the bottom of the hill, Shin surged, pulling ahead.

Cameron pushed to stay close as he got a small gap on Matt while the hill steepened. Shin continued to widen his lead throughout the climb and was the 1st Place Male finisher with a time of 2:21. Cameron came in for 2nd Place one minute later for a time of 2:22 with Matt only 34 seconds behind him taking the 3rd Place Male award. The race between local Sarah Huber and Tomoko Kato from Japan for the 2nd place Female award was intense as well.

Throughout the entire race, Sarah and Tomoko were within about one minute of each other. Tomoko was able to maintain her lead even though Sarah was closing in on her throughout the run. Tomoko kept the 2nd Place Female position with a finish time of 2:40 while Sarah came in only 54 seconds later. Visiting athletes from Japan, Mitsuo Hoshino, Yuichi Hoshino and Hideya Miyazuka took 5th, 6th and 7th places overall respectively.

As the rain picked back up later in the race, athletes continued to finish with the final racer crossing the line in 5 hours and 33 minutes. Everyone who finished this course can be proud to have completed the most challenging triathlon on Guam!

PHOTO GALLERY BROUGHT TO YOU BY:

The top three women’s finishers Mieko Carey, Tomoko Kato, and Sarah Huber. (photo by Kevin Carey)

The top three men’s finishers Shin Miyagi, Cameron O’Neal, and Matt Mlachack. (photo by Kevin Carey)

Mieko Carey celebrates crossing the finish line during Sunday morning’s GIT. (photo by Kevin Carey)

Cameron O’Neal gets ready to head on to the bike portion of the race. (photo by Kevin Carey)