Canadian Melanie McQuaid and South African Conrad Stoltz each won the inaugural ITU Cross Triathlon World Championships today in Extremadura, Spain. 

Fifteen years after the first offroad triathlon world championship was held—called the Aquaterra and quickly renamed XTERRA—triathlon's world governing body has embraced the format. Stoltz is a 4-time XTERRA world champ himself, and McQuaid has won XTERRA worlds 3 times. Now each has an ITU title to add to their palmares.

McQuaid overcame adversity when her bike was lost by an airline while traveling to Spain. She was forced to race on a borrowed bike for today's championships but didn't let that stop her from powering to her first ever ITU World Championship.

While Americans did not take home the gold, they pocketed their share of hardware. Shonny Vanlandingham was second in the women's race, and Emma Garrard was third. Seth Wealing was a silver medalist in the men's race, and Josiah Middaugh was 4th.

Photos courtesy: Janos Schmidt / ITU

ITU Cross Triathlon World Championships
1km swim, 20km mountain bike, 6km cross-country run

Men
1. Conrad Stoltz (RSA) 1:26:40
2. Seth Wealing (USA) 1:27:36
3. Olivier Marceau (SUI) 1:29:43
4. Josiah Middaugh (USA) 1:30:27
5. Richard Stannard (GBR) 1:31:04
6. Eneko Llanos (ESP) 1:31:29
7. Bruno Pais (POR) 1:32:11
8. Branden Rakita (USA) 1:32:13
9. Victor Manuel, Del Corral Morales (ESP) 1:32:47
10. Craig Evans (USA) 1:34:37

Women
1. Melanie McQuaid (CAN) 1:43:02
2. Shonny Vanlandingham (USA) 1:43:25
3. Emma Garrard (USA) 1:43:43
4. Christine Jeffrey (CAN) 1:45:22
5. Marion Lorblanchet (FRA) 1:47:16
6. Zurine Rodriguez (ESP) 1:47:34
7. Renata Bucher (SUI) 1:48:13
8. Adriana Fabiola Corona (MEX) 1:50:34
9. Susan Sloan (RSA) 1:51:27
10. Helena Herrero (ESP) 1:51:31