Conrad Stoltz of South Africa and Lesley Paterson of Scotland won the first XTERRA Pacific Championship at Santa Cruz, California Sunday.
But Stoltz’s second straight XTERRA U.S. Pro Series win and Paterson’s first ever XTERRA Pro title were overshadowed with the emotional return of the great Jamie Whitmore to XTERRA competition for the first time since her 2007 bout with cancer took her glute muscle, hamstring, calf and left her with no feeling in her foot. With help from the Challenged Athletes Foundation and a leg brace, the greatest off road triathlete of all time with a world title and 37 championship wins won the physically challenged division of the XTERRA sport race and the cheers and love of the entire XTERRA family.
Stoltz’s win at the came only after a hard fought duel with fellow South African Dan Hugo along the beautiful single track paths that wound from the spectacular Pacific coastline and into the beautiful coastal redwoods. Hugo led Stoltz and the rest of the field from the start of the bike and into the redwood forest trail called Enchanted. Once the course wound into a long downhill, Stoltz’s favorite terrain, the 4-time World Champion bombed past Hugo.
“He’s simply magical,” Hugo told XTERRA media. “So incredible to watch when he’s on his game, out of the saddle twisted to one side, and never a thought of touching the brakes.”
Hugo arrived at the bike-to-run transition a little less than a minute back. Hugo and Stoltz both redlined the run and finished with nearly identical splits – leaving Stoltz with a 47-seconds margin of victory.
Seth Wealing finished 3rd, another 71 seconds back of Hugo. Middaugh was three minutes behind Wealing in 4th, and Branden Rakita was 5th nearly three minutes behind Middaugh.
Lesley Paterson, the pocket-sized powerhouse Scotswoman who lives and works in San Diego, finally cracked the XTERRA Pro championship series winner’s circle with a 2nd fastest swim, 3rd fastest bike and fastest run for a winning time of 2:33:13.
Paterson, who had four 2nd place XTERRA finishes including a 2nd place at the 2009 XTERRA Worlds, came into the bike-to-run transition trailing Swiss star Renata Bucher and caught her a mile and a half into the final leg. At the finish, Paterson was 2 minutes 37 second ahead of runner-up Bucher and another 27 seconds further ahead of Emma Garrard, whose 3rd place finish was the best of her XTERRA career.
Paterson’s win came after a groin injury that kept her from racing for months. “I couldn’t run for about 10 weeks, but sometimes that’s a good thing,” she told XTERRA media. “You learn from it, you move on from it, and it made me hungry to get going again.”
Reigning XTERRA World Champion Shonny Vanlandingham, multiple XTERRA World Champion Melanie McQuaid, and Christine Jeffrey, who together had dominated the podiums at the first two XTERRA U.S. Pro Series races, came in 4th, 5th and 6th.
XTERRA Pacific Championship
Santa Cruz, California
May 15, 2011
Results
Pro Men
1. Conrad Stoltz (RSA) 2:12:51 - $1,800
2. Dam Hugo (RSA) 2:13:38 - $1,250
3. Seth Wealing (USA) 2:14:49 - $800
4. Josiah Middaugh (USA) 2:18:11 - $500
5. Branden Rakita (USA) 2:20:59 - $400
6. Trevor Glavin (USA) 2:24:27 - $300
7. Cody Waite (USA) 2:24:59 - $200
8. Craig Evans (USA) 2:25:23
9. Chris Stehula (USA) 2:25:26
10. Eric Clarkson (USA) 2:28:26
Pro Women
1. Lesley Paterson (GBR) 2:33:13 - $1,800
2. Renata Bucher (SUI) 2:35:50 - $1,250
3. Emma Garrard (USA) 2:36:17 - $800
4. Shonny Vanlandingham (USA) 2:36:53 - $500
5. Melanie McQuaid (CAN) 2:37:43 - $400
6. Christine Jeffrey (CAN) 2:40:10 - $300
7. Suzie Snyder (USA) 2:42:08 - $200
8. Jessica Noyola (USA) 2:47:42
9. Caroline Colonna (USA) 3:00:24
10. Stella Carey (USA) 3:17:16
2011 XTERRA U.S. Pro Series Points Standings – after 3 races
Men
1. Conrad Stoltz (RSA) 290
2. Josiah Middaugh (USA) 265
3. Seth Wealing (USA) 222
4. Branden Rakita (USA) 220
5. Trevor Glavin (USA) 174
Women
1. Melanie McQuaid (CAN) 269
2. Shonny Vandlandingham (USA) 255
3. Christine Jeffrey (CAN) 227
4. Emma Garrard (USA) 214
5. Suzie Snyder (USA) 191
