After three straight runner-up finishes at this race, Josiah Middaugh finally won XTERRA Costa Rica. “Hey, that's better than 15 tries,” Middaugh laughed, referring to the XTERRA World Championship title he finally won in his 15th attempt. The win was Middaugh’s 25th career victory in 17 seasons of racing.

Suzie Snyder had a different perspective on her 47-seconds margin of victory over fellow U.S. competitor Kara Lapoint. “As I approached the finish and heard the announcer call my name as the winner I got goose bumps and broke out in a big smile,” Snyder told XTERRA media. “I’m happy that I had a good clean race without any silly mistakes and was able to take home the win!”

The victory was Snyder’s second in three weeks, the seventh in 2 years on the XTERRA Pan America circuit and the ninth in her career.

Men

Branden Rakita and Ian King were first out of the water followed by Jean-Philippe Thibodeau of Canada and Billy Gordon of Panama. Significantly, Middaugh had an excellent–for-him swim and trailed the leader by just a minute.

In mid-season form, Middaugh posted a 1:08:34 bike split that was 2 minutes faster than Belgian cycling maestro Kris Coddens and gave Middaugh an unassailable lead starting the run. After a race-best run, Middaugh finished in 2:06:51, four minutes ahead of the Belgian.

Coddens, who finished third on the 2016 XTERRA European Tour and 4th at XTERRA South Africa to start 2017, overcame a transition mishap to work his way back to second place. “I had a good swim, exiting the water right behind Josiah, but made a mistake by coming out of transition on the beach,” said Coddens. “Someone fell in front of me and then I fell so lost the connection with Josiah, but he was stronger than me on the bike.”

Thibodeau finished 5 minutes behind Coddens to take 3rd, and thus took the lead in the Pan Am Tour standings.

Women

Suzie Snyder led wire-to-wire and thanks her early lead for providing a cushion to endure late race exhaustion. “The bike course has some steep climbs and soft dirt that can really zap your legs,” she told XTERRA media. “My legs felt cooked when I began the run, so thankfully there was just one good hill right at the start. I knew I had a 3.5-minute lead so if I focused on maintaining a smooth tempo and high cadence to regulate my effort until my legs loosened up, I should be safe.”

Maia Ignatz of Boulder, Colorado, last year’s runner-up on the XTERRA Pan American Tour, passed Kara Lapoint to move into second behind Snyder before she took a wrong turn on the run.
“Today was bittersweet,” said Ignatz. “I had an amazing day, but I missed the second small loop on the run and ended up disqualified. It would have been close, I think, and it’s a tough lesson learned, massively disappointing and heartbreaking.”

Lapoint repeated her second place finish at Costa Rica, just 47 seconds behind Snyder. Annie Bergen of Canada took 3rd, 9:13 behind the winner.

XTERRA Costa Rica
Playa Gonchal, Guanacaste, Costa Rica
April 9, 2017
S 1.5k / MTB 30k / TR 10k

Results

Men

1. Josiah Middaugh (USA) 2:06:51
2. Kris Coddens (BEL) 2:10:51
3. Jean-Philippe Thibodeau (CAN) 2:15:30
4. Branden Rakita (USA) 2:17:29
5. Ryan Ignatz (USA) 2:18:31

Women

1. Suzie Snyder (USA) 2:41:44
2. Kara Lapoint (USA) 2:42:31
3. Annie Bergen (CAN) 2:50:57
4. Kara Mira Dias (BRA) 2:51:52
5. Liz Gruber (USA) 2:53:43