CYCLISTS went through “hell” on Saturday, but came back alive in the return of the Hell of the Marianas with participants from Japan and South Korea taking the spotlight in the pro/elite category.
The day started with perfect weather conditions as cyclists covered 100km of the toughest bike race course in Micronesia.
In the men’s division, it was a nail-biting battle for the lead among Ryohei Fujita and Rinichiro Shigeta of Japan and Ryan Matienzo of Guam. It was not until halfway through the course that Fujita and Shigeta gained control and pedaled their way toward the finish line amid heavy rain in a grueling course.
Separated by just a fraction of a millisecond, Fujita crossed the finish line first while Shigeta followed. Both shared a time of 3:17:25. They said the course was hard and then slippery.
In third place with a finish time of 3:19:00 was Matienzo, a veteran triathlete who travels to Saipan to compete. Asked why he decided to join a bike race, he replied, “Because there were no marathons.”
The rest of the top nine were Guam’s Peter Lombard (3:21:54), Guam’s Blayde Blas (3:25:36), South Korea’s Byeong Tak Lee (3:26:24), Guam’s Jacob Jones (3:37:42), Guam’s Dan Aponik (3:40:11), and South Korea’s Seokwon Park (6:17:43).
Women’s division
The pouring rain toward the end of the course was truly hell for some of the women’s cyclists. South Korea’s Miso Kim fell during the race and was bleeding but she kept pushing through to finish first with a time of 3:44:21.
Jiseon Jang came in second with a time of 4:06:14 while Jo Ara finished third with a time of 4:06:26.
Saipan’s riders filled the rest of the top six with Robyn Spaeth in fourth with a time of 4:25:51 followed by Kimiko Mckagan at 4:45:20 and Kathy Ruszala at 5:24:24.
A total of 175 cyclists competed in the 2023 Hell of the Marianas.
The non-pro category and age group winners will be featured in Variety’s next edition.
