Burger Fest: A day of sports, beer, food, and fun

Good food and cold beer always add up to good vibes by the beach under the summer sun—especially during Budweiser’s Burger Fest last Saturday at the Marianas Beach Resort. The day had it all, from fun games and sports on land and sea—paddleboarding, the Beer Mile with Run Saipan, pickleball with the Pickleball Federation, and cornhole. Not to mention, a King of the Grill was crowned, and the MLB Flyaway winner battled his way to a trip to New York.

Ray Salas came out on top, beating nine other finalists to win the grand prize in Marpac’s giveaway—a roundtrip ticket to New York to watch the New York Yankees take on the Boston Red Sox live on August 22.

In the King of the Grill competition, Team Chagi brought the heat with their burger, which was crowned the best out of four entries.

As for the sports happening throughout the day—from the shore to the garden and hotel courts—participants gave it their all in friendly, fun competitions that filled the grounds with high spirits and laughter.

Over on the beach, runners in the 4th Annual Michelob Ultra Beer Mile tested their limits, trying to keep their stomachs in check while chugging four beers and sprinting along the shore under the blazing Saipan sun.

After all competitors had their turn chugging beer and kicking up the sand, Matt Giovannoni came out on top with a time of 9:10, with second place Leith Pool at 9:24. The women’s first place was Tammy Ackerman at 13:19 and second place went to Robyn Spaeth at 16:51.

The corporate division winner was Marpac with a time of 7:24. The team included James Lee, Coby Santos, Chioni Dela Cruz, and John Diaz.

Run Saipan acknowledged Marpac/Current CNMI for their sponsorship of the race.

In the water, the winner of the paddleboarding competition was Jenisha Dubrall who beat out five other paddlers. Meanwhile, the garden was filled with cornhole teams, while the pickleball court was overflowing with players of all ages.

Marpac Resident Manager Guy Pudney who was interviewed during the event said that it was a great summer bash. “What we wanted to do was have a big family event. There’s a lot of kids playing, a lot of families having fun. I want to give a shoutout to Dave Hood for allowing this to happen down here at his property. It’s a beautiful day—great weather.”

As for the turnout, he said, “turnout is great. There’s a lot of military here… unfortunately we had a lot of people that were busy today honoring the late governor, but other than that it was a great turnout and hopefully we can have another one next year.”