Nico Lebrun captured the XTERRA Mountain Cup in Avon, CO today and has now moved into second place in the Cup Series standings. Shonny Vanlandingham won the women's race and with it her second title this season.
The men
On a course set up by adventure race Mike Kloser at Beaver Creek Resort, Branden Rakita and Seth Wealing led the lead pack out of the water. Nico Lebrun had lost over 3 minutes in the swim and had quite a few athletes ahead of him starting the bike.
But Lebrun's 1:14:45 bike split, which happened to be the fastest of the day, helped him cruise past the competition like a man on a mission. As Lebrun got near the end of the bike section, he encountered Josiah Middaugh who had crashed hard and was walking his damaged bike bike towards transition. Soon after, Lebrun caught Mike Vine and Branden Rakita and by the time he reached the second transition he was a minute ahead of his closest pursuers. Vine and Rakita were next and amazingly Middaugh managed to reach T2 in 4th position despite his unfortunate incident.
Lebrun ran virtually unchallenged to his second title of the year and is now getting closer and closer to Conrad Stoltz in the Cup Series standings. (Stoltz has missed a few races after a nasty injury.) Cody Waite actually crossed the line in second place, but a 2 minute penalty moved him off the podium into 4th place. Vine then earned second place and the valiant Middaugh captured the final podium spot.
The women
Olympic bronze medalist Susan Williams led all women out of the water and most of the men too. Shonny Vanlandingham was actually more than four minutes behind Williams as she started to head out on the bike course. But just like Lebrun, Vanlandingham had the fastest bike split to put her in a great position going into the run. Her time of 1:24:37 on the bike was 5 minutes faster than the second best split by Sara Tarkington.
Out on the run, Vanlandingham was very smooth and in control and won the race in quite a convincing fashion. That win moved Vanlandingham in second position in the Cup Series behind Melanie McQuaid. Danelle Kabush earned the runner-up spot with the fastest run split (41:08) among the women, and caught Tarkington shortly before the finish. Tarkington though held on to third place, her best XTERRA result to date.
"It's nice to have a Cup race back in Colorado and I always enjoy ski mountain courses where the climbs are long and hard but the scenery is beautiful, if you take the time to look," said Vanlandingham to slowtwitch.
XTERRA Mountain Cup
Avon, CO / July 18, 2009
Top 10 men
1. Nico Lebrun (FRA) 2:15:06
2. Mike Vine (CAN) 2:16:29
3. Josiah Middaugh (USA) 2:17:42
4. Cody Waite (USA) 2:18:09
5. Branden Rakita (USA) 2:19:14
6. Brian Smith (USA) 2:20:23
7. Tyler Butterfield (BER) 2:21:33
8. Ryan Ignatz (USA) 2:21:45
9. Sam Gardner (GBR) 2:24:05
10. Will Kelsay (USA) 2:29:17
Top 10 women
1. Shonny Vanlandingham (USA) 2:30:14
2. Danelle Kabush (CAN) 2:36:16
3. Sara Tarkington (USA) 2:36:32
4. Susan Williams (USA) 2:36:58
5. Rebecca Dussault (USA) 2:40:00
6. Renata Bucher (SWI) 2:41:17
7. Jenny Smith (NZL) 2:41:30
8. Emma Garrard (USA) 2:47:14
9. Sari Anderson (USA) 2:51:21
10. Tracy Thelen (USA) 2:53:41
