Switzerland’s Renate Bucher won her fourth straight Xterra Saipan Championship and Australia’s Andrew Noble took the men’s crown Saturday on a tough course made tougher by pre-race rains that left the trails slick and muddy and a new, more technical loop section added to the already rigorously challenging bike.

Struggling with the difficult conditions, Bucher’s finishing time of 3:12:46 was 27 minutes off her 2007 race record time. Noble’s 2:46:51 finishing time was 7 minutes slower than his 2:39:56 while finishing third to last year’s winner Olivier Marceau and Sam Gardner.

Bucher swept to victory by 20 minutes 37 seconds over Saipan amateur Mieko Carey.

“It was very slippery and a very hard course to finish,” Bucher told the Saipan Tribune. “So much humidity, I thought the rains would come but it didn’t and it was so hot. “

Noble, perhaps emboldened by the absence of four-time defending champion Marceau negotiated the trails 11 minutes 16 seconds ahead of runner-up Jim Vance, a former Xterra amateur World Champion.

“Today it was extra tough because of the mud from the rain,” Noble told the Saipan Tribune. “It makes your tires very heavy on the bike and you’ve got t concentrate so you won’t fall. Then on the run it was so slippery, your legs are tired from biking with your tires so heavy with mud.”

Due to recent budget constraints, the Mariana Visitors Authority was unable to fund Xterra Saipan as a full Xterra Global Tour event as they had the past five years. Thus the event had a reduced elite field. In an email to the Saipan Tribune, Xterra Global Tour managing director Dave Nicholas lamented the downgrading of Xterra Saipan 2008 from a full fledged race that the Team Unlimited group organized to a licensing agreement, but sympathized with the MVA’s fiscal woes. “Perhaps it is like being a parent, but with the help of the MVA, we brought this race to birth and saw it grow to a true internationally recognized event,” write Nicholas. “I am afraid this is not the case today. It seems a shame that so much was invested both financially and in effort to see the crown jewel of our Global Tour go away.”

Still, there was a battle for the women’s title until Bucher put it away, and Noble’s race was a stellar performance from start to finish.

The men
Noble put 20 seconds on 2006 Ironman Florida third place finisher Jim Vance with a race-best 19:27 1500-meter swim off Micro Beach. Then he put the race away with a 1:33:47 bike leg through the 30-kilometers of intriguing tropical jungle trails and hills. After a sluggish 23:38 swim, Japan’s Tahahiro Ogasawara made up a 3:51 disadvantage to emerge from the bike in 1:36:06, just ahead of Vance whose 1:39:17 bike left him third after two legs.

On the jungle trail run, which takes runners over roots, branches and a cave along Mt. Tapochao, Noble reigned supreme with a 53:37 leg. Vance’s 58-minute run re-took second from Ogasawara’s 1:03:25 run, with local Saipan anesthesiologist Eli Torgerson, who fell three times, took fourth in 3:17:11, 14 minutes back of Ogasawara.

The women
Mieko Carey, who qualified for the 2007 Xterra Worlds in Maui, took a 1 minute 34 second lead on Bucher with a 22:31 swim. Bucher caught and passed Carey midway through the Mt. Tapochao section, and finished the bike in 1:45:09 with a 14-minute lead over Carey, who posted a 2:01:34 bike time. Bucher then put another 6 minutes on Carey with a 1:03:32 run.

Xterra Saipan
Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands
March 8, 2008
S 1.5k/ B 30k/ R 12k

Results

Men
1. Andrew Noble (Aus) 2:46:51
2. Jim Vance (San Diego CA) 2:58:07
3. Takahiro Ogasawara (Jpn) 3:03:09
4. Eli Torgerson (Saipan) 3:17:11 *
5. Taro Shirato (Jpn) NA

Women
1. Renate Bucher (Sui) 3:12:46
2. Mieko Carey (Saipan) 3:33:23 *

* Amateur