Rotorua home town favorite Sam Osborne and newlywed Jacqui Allen (nee Slack) of Great Britain won the 15th XTERRA New Zealand Championship at Lake Tikitapu.

Men

Osborne trailed young Fynn Thompson by one second, then pulled away for the victory with a race-best bike split and trail run to finish in 2:06:01 with a 3:10 margin of victory over two-time XTERRA 15-19 age group World Champion Hayden Wilde in his professional debut. Fellow Kiwi Kyle Smith took 3rd, 6:08 behind the winner.

“I didn’t have one of best of swims but had a really good transition so got out first still,” Osborne told XTERRA media. “There was a group of five all together at the start of the bike and as soon as we hit the first open sections things started to go nuts. It was just attack after attack with all the ITU guys in that group and an always aggressive Braden Currie right there. The first part of the bike was fireworks.”

Currie, twice at winner at XTERRA New Zealand, withdrew on the run due to injury. “He did his fair share of damage to all of us on the bike before that happened,” said Osborne.

It was the second XTERRA win of the season for Osborne, who was the first local to win this race.

“Absolutely bloody stoked,” Osborne told XTERRA media. “It’s the first time both Mum and Dad have been able to watch the race here so they were just going nuts. They only usually get to see me race once a year because of work and usually only one can watch, but to pull off today in front of both of them is just special.”

Women

Rebecca Clarke of New Zealand led the swim in 11:37, 45 seconds ahead of Jacqui Allen and 1:17 ahead of Hannah Wells. Allen, still riding an emotional high after her wedding to fellow XTERRA competitor Ben Allen, seized the lead 1 kilometer into the mountain bike course and never looked back.

“I really had no idea how it was going to go today, my numbers in training have improved but I had no idea how that would translate to an XTERRA race at full speed,” Allen told XTERRA media. “I got bashed around a bit in the swim but still existed in 2nd and after 1km on the bike I took over the lead.”

The reigning XTERRA Malaysia winner managed a little trail time after her marriage, as she posted a women's-best 1:30:34 bike split which gave her a 3 minutes lead at T2. Wells gained back 36 seconds on Allen with a women’s-best 51:26 run, but at the end Allen’s 2:34:58 finish time gave her a 2:46 margin of victory over Wells and 6:47 over 3rd-place finisher and XTERRA Motatapu champion Josie Wilcox.

“I was riding well and my skills on the bike have improved a lot over the summer so the XTERRA New Zealand course was right up my street,” said Allen. “I came off the bike in the lead and ran my first lap conserving a little energy. I thought I was being chased down so with 4km to go I put the hammer down.”

XTERRA New Zealand
Blue Lake, Rotorua, New Zealand
April 8, 2017
S 1k / MTB 26k / TR 11k

Results

Men

1. Sam Osborne (NZL) 2:06:01
2. Hayden Wilde (NZL) 2:09:11
3. Kyle Smith (NZL) 2:12:09
4. Fynn Thompson (NZL) 2:12:14
5. Olly Shaw (NZL) 2:14:48

Women

1. Jacqui Allen (GBR) 2:34:58
2. Hannah Wells (NZL) 2:374
3. Josie Wilcox (NZL) 2:41:45
4. Renata Bucher (SUI) 2:45:56
5. Penny Slater (AUS) 2:46:20