It is Allen’s sixth XTERRA World Tour win of the season (to go with a pair of runner-ups) and his first career win on the European Tour.  It’s the first win of the year for Erbenova, who won four straight in Europe to end last season as the Tour champion.

XTERRA managing director “Kahuna Dave” Nicholas was on-site and brings us this initial report from Lake Plastira.

A fabulous day for racing, sunny and warm with a small breeze.  Ben Allen and three relay swimmers were first out of the water with Asa Shaw just 30 seconds back.  At the end of the first lap, Shaw and Allen were inches apart working together to gap the field.  Third was first year pro Marvin Gruget, fourth was Belgian Yeray Luxum.  Shaw dropped his chain early in the second lap, hooked it back up only to have it break just a few K farther into the bike.

“I had a little gap exiting the water and once I jumped on my Giant Bike I laid it all on the line,” said Allen after the race. “Asa Shaw road strong to bridge the gap and we road together increasing our lead on the chasing pack of athletes. Unfortunately for him he suffered a broken chain and I was left solo as I started the bike and managed to enter T2 with a handy lead going into the run leg. I felt great coming off the bike and managed to settle into my rhythm early. I knew I wasn’t going to have it easy with the caliber of world class athletes chasing me down. I managed to run comfortably on the muddy grass fields and through the forest sections.”

Allen had a solid performance in every respect and was not challenged after Shaw dropped back.  The big surprise was Belgian Kris Coddens, who has raced XTERRA in the past but today he and fellow Belgian Yeray Luxum were on fire.  Luxum swam faster, Coddens caught him on the bike and they ran back and forth the entire race with Coddens finishing just 10 seconds ahead of Luxum for second.

“Wrapped to finally get the monkey off my back & win a European XTERRA World Tour Race,” said Allen.  “I’m honored to win here today at the very first XTERRA Greece and be engraved on the trophy as this year’s champion. What a fantastic location for an XTERRA, surrounded by beautiful mountains and the pristine Lake Plastira. It was an awesome XTERRA experience.”

Top 10 Pro Men

1 Ben Allen, AUS 2:17:37
2 Kris Coddens, BEL 2:19:05
3 Yeray Luxum, BEL 2:19:16
4 Nicolas Lebrun, FRA 2:21:58
5 Asa Shaw, GBR 2:21:59
6 Cedric Lassonde, FRA 2:24:42
7 Felix Schumann, GER 2:26:03
8 Marvin Gruget, FRA 2:29:22
9 Francois Carloni, FRA 2:33:45
10 Sergey Yakolev, RUS 2:35:59

For the women ITU racer Mignon Vatlach and Kathrin Muller were first out of the water, but at the end of the first lap Jacqui Slack was in front, Muller 2nd and Helena Erbenova closing fast.

Erbenova took command on the bike and never let up, while Muller and Slack had a great battle together for the second lap of the bike and the entire run.

Erbenova finished more than four minutes up for the win.  Slack finally was able to pass Muller and put a small gap, but the German lass was not giving in and was less than a minute behind at the finish.

A sold-out field of 300 athletes from 23 countries took part in today’s race.

Top 5 Pro Women

1 Helena Erbenova, CZE 2:38:17
2 Jacqui Slack, GBR 2:42:51
3 Katrin Mueller, GER 2:43:40
4 Renata Bucher, SUI 2:48:08
5 Carina Wasle, AUT 2:50:42

Next on the XTERRA World Tour: XTERRA Spain was the second European Tour race and 10th World Tour event to qualify amateur athletes into the XTERRA World Championship to be held in Kapalua, Maui on October 27, 2013.  Next up, XTERRA Brazil in Ilhabela next weekend for a highly anticipated showdown between Conrad “the Caveman” Stoltz and his younger countryman Dan Hugo.

Date – Race, Location
Feb 24 -  XTERRA South Africa Championship, Western Cape
Mar 2 – XTERRA Philippines Championship, Cebu
Mar 9 – XTERRA Motatapu, South Island, New Zealand
Mar 9 – XTERRA Saipan Championship, Northern Marianas
Mar 23 – XTERRA Guam Championship, Piti
Apr 7 – XTERRA Great Ocean Road, Anglesea, Victoria, Australia
Apr 13 – XTERRA New Zealand Championship, Rotorua
Apr 28 – XTERRA Malaysia Championhip, Putrajaya
June 2 – XTERRA Spain Championship, Cieza, Murcia
June 15 – XTERRA Greece, Lake Plastira
June 22 – XTERRA Brazil Championship, Ilhabela, SP
June 29 – XTERRA Switzerland Championship, Vallee de Joux
July 7 – XTERRA France Championship, Xonrupt, Gerardmer
July 14 – XTERRA Victoria, Canada
July 20 – XTERRA Abruzzo, Lago di Scanno, Italy
Aug 3 – XTERRA Mexico Championship, Tapalpa, Jalisco
Aug 4 – XTERRA Canmore, Canada
Aug 10 – XTERRA Czech Championship, Prachatice
Aug 17 – XTERRA Germany Championship, Zittau
Aug 24 – XTERRA Japan Championship, Marunuma
Aug 31 – XTERRA Ecuador,
Sept 8 – XTERRA England, Cranleigh, Surrey
Sept 21 – XTERRA USA Championship, Ogden/Snowbasin, UT
Oct 27 – XTERRA World Championship, Kapalua, Maui, Hawaii

For Ruzafa, a successful pro mountain biker who collected four national titles in cross country and marathon for Spain, it marks his full-time venture into triathlon almost five years after winning the 2008 XTERRA World Championship in Maui.

“Since 2008 I knew I wanted to be a triathlete, and this is my first year and first big professional race with that focus.  It’s a great beginning, and special to start here in my country,” said Ruzafa, who lives four hours away from Cieza by car.

This was just Ruzafa’s third XTERRA (he was second at XTERRA Italy in 2009) and although he went to XTERRA Worlds in ’09 he was unable to defend his title after crashing two days before the race.

XTERRA World Tour warrior Ben Allen gave Ruzafa a run for his money, but came up just short.

“What a battle,” said Allen, who has won five XTERRA World Tour races this season and placed second twice now (also 2nd to Courtney Atkinson in Australia).  “Happy to finish 2nd behind the ’08 World Champ.  I knew he was going to be very strong on the bike, but he showed he can also run.  I could see him the whole way on the run and started to gain ground towards the end but he had enough in the tank to take the win today.”

For Bucher, it’s her fourth straight XTERRA World Tour win (33rd career) following her impressive string of victories in April spanning XTERRA Australia, New Zealand, and Malaysia.

“The race was great.  I felt really good from the beginning to the end, and finally I was able to enjoy the hard run as well,” said Bucher.  “I know that Helena can run, like Lesley (Paterson), so I pushed really hard on the bike but rode controlled without having troubles or making a mistake.  It was a great day for me, and I’m very thankful for it.”

XTERRA managing director “Kahuna Dave” Nicholas was on-site and brings us this report…

The day started with local pro Roger “Raja” Serrano and Ben Allen leading the swim and putting a minute into last year’s Euro Tour runner-up Asa Shaw.  Ruzafa, who looked very fit and relaxed, had a solid swim just two minutes back.  Out on the bike, Allen and Serrano quickly dropped young Frenchman Brice Daubord (a certain future star) and Joan Ruvireta Brufau to battle for the lead.

Ruzafa caught the pair near the end of the bike but did not make a move to pass.  Later, both Raja and Allen thought Ruzafa could have passed but was conserving strength for the run.  They were spot on.

Into T2 there was not 10 yards between the three of them and all left in one fast pack.  The run from T2 goes uphill immediately and continues to climb for quite a while.  Ruzafa took off from the start and grabbed a lead he would not relinquish despite a lingering injury to his Psoas muscle he contracted in February.

Serrano, who is a road warrior and not used to this kind of running, had a hard time and eventually faded to 6th place, but this 22-year-old is a contender for the future.

Allen was not giving in at all and kept Ruzafa in sight.  Near the end on the dusty, hot flat sections, the Aussie was catching the Spaniard but it was too little, too late and he came home second just 47 seconds out.

Asa Shaw pulled his way back to third but not without a fight from Hector Guerra who had the second fastest bike split to Ruzafa by one-second.  Guerra raced XTERRA a bit last year and will concentrate on the Tour this season.  While Shaw got away from him, Guerro has to be very pleased with 4th, and contented for third all the way to the line.

Defending XTERRA European Tour champion Nico Lebrun put in the fastest run by far and came home 5th, a typical early season race for “The Professor.”  Nico still has the chops and nobody should think his last season after 11 fantastic years will be taken lightly.

Roger Serrano was 6th, Brice Daubord 7th, Belgium Jim Thijs 8th, Ruvireta Brufau 9th, and Cedric Lassonde 10th after a nasty training accident on Saturday that gave him three stitches and some bad bruising.

Also: Francois Carloni, Tomas Kubek, Llewellyn Holmes, Fracisco Macias, Xavier Torrades, Pavel Jinora, Fabien Combaluzier, Antonio Cardona, Tyronne White, Juan Fernandez, Agusta Roc

In the women’s race Germany’s Katrin Muller blitzed the swim for the women and came out 30-seconds ahead of Brit Jacqui Slack.  Both of them were caught by the amazingly fast Renata Bucher early on.  Bucher had three wins in April and is in fantastic form.  Slack was second at the half way point in the bike with Muller 3rd and then a long gap to Czech Helena Erbenova with young and improving Hungarian Brigitta Poor in 5th.  Bucher never looked back.

Erbenova, who is usually the fastest on the bike lost over three minutes to the speedy “Swiss Miss” at this race.  Out of T2 it was Bucher with four minutes over Slack, then Muller and Erbenova very close together.  Erbenova crushed the run taking back five minutes from Bucher but had lost too much in the swim and bike.  It was a great performance by the 2012 European Women’s Champ and if Bucher stays in form this has the makings of a great summer long battle.

Slack and Muller raced hard passing and then re-passing with Katrin besting Jacqui by just 3 seconds.  Bubu Lorblanchet was making her first start since a bad foot injury to finish 5th and quickly collapsed at the finish, totally exhausted.  She bounced back after a quick trip to the “medico’s” and will concentrate on training over the next few weeks.  She will miss Greece but return in Switzerland later this month.

So Ruben Ruzafa is now two-for-three.  World Champion 2008, 2nd in Italy 2009, and now Spanish champion 2013.  He plans on racing at XTERRA Berga, XTERRA Germany, XTERRA USA and World Championships this year.

Ben was OK with finishing second and gaining valuable points on Lebrun but wanted the win.  Asa was only OK with his 3rd and will go to Greece wanting a win.  The season has the appearance of a great shootout between Allen, Shaw and Lebrun with interlopers like Ruzafa coming along from time to time and let’s not overlook Alex Haas who came down with a chest virus and Hector Guerra who showed some amazing form today.

All I can say about the weekend is “wow”.  Organizers Eduardo, Catalina, Pepe, Diego, Thomas, Vincente and the others deserve the highest marks for pulling this one off and making it look great.  The weather in this part of Spain is fabulous and the northerners were simply smiling with joy at the great sun and breezes.  Cieza is a wonderful city with old Plaza’s and churches mixed with more modern buildings – narrow twisty streets next to flowered boulevards, and has great food and drink at less than budget prices.  It’s easy enough to get to with a 3-hour drive from Madrid or just an hour from Alicante airport.  All this and it was the first race of the year!  Best get some tickets bought and get over here for the battles and the Live More experience.

Also: Rocio Espada Vazquez, Nuria Morrio Perez

Complete Results

Next on the XTERRA World Tour: XTERRA Spain was the first European Tour and ninth World Tour event to qualify amateur athletes into the XTERRA World Championship to be held in Kapalua, Maui on October 27, 2013.  Next up, the inaugural XTERRA Greece off-road tri at Lake Plastira in two weeks.

Date – Race, Location
Feb 24 -  XTERRA South Africa Championship, Western Cape
Mar 2 – XTERRA Philippines Championship, Cebu
Mar 9 – XTERRA Motatapu, South Island, New Zealand
Mar 9 – XTERRA Saipan Championship, Northern Marianas
Mar 23 – XTERRA Guam Championship, Piti
Apr 7 – XTERRA Great Ocean Road, Anglesea, Victoria, Australia
Apr 13 – XTERRA New Zealand Championship, Rotorua
Apr 28 – XTERRA Malaysia Championhip, Putrajaya
June 2 – XTERRA Spain Championship, Cieza, Murcia
June 15 – XTERRA Greece, Lake Plastira
June 22 – XTERRA Brazil Championship, Ilhabela, SP
June 29 – XTERRA Switzerland Championship, Vallee de Joux
July 7 – XTERRA France Championship, Xonrupt, Gerardmer
July 14 – XTERRA Victoria, Canada
July 20 – XTERRA Abruzzo, Lago di Scanno, Italy
Aug 3 – XTERRA Mexico Championship, Tapalpa, Jalisco
Aug 4 – XTERRA Canmore, Canada
Aug 10 – XTERRA Czech Championship, Prachatice
Aug 17 – XTERRA Germany Championship, Zittau
Aug 24 – XTERRA Japan Championship, Marunuma
Aug 31 – XTERRA Ecuador,
Sept 8 – XTERRA England, Cranleigh, Surrey
Sept 21 – XTERRA USA Championship, Ogden/Snowbasin, UT
Oct 27 – XTERRA World Championship, Kapalua, Maui, Hawaii

The manmade lake is named after former Prime Minister of Greece Nikolaos Plastiras, and is located in the Prefecture of Karditsa, about 80 miles from Volos airport.

“Nestled in the Agrafa Mountains, Lake Plastira has brought prestige and fame not only to Karditsa region but to all of Greece,” said organizer Κostas Koumargialis. “All the surrounding villages are truly enchanting because of the splendid view and sylvan backdrop.”

The bike and run courses will venture into the verdant forest filled with oak, plane and chestnut trees and abundant flowing water. Course maps and descriptions can be found on the event website at xterragreece.com.

The championship race – second of eight events on this year’s XTERRA European Tour – will feature a 1.5km swim, 30km mountain bike followed by 10km trail run.

Koumargialis has created several complete travel packages with options including meals, great hotels, and transportation. Of note, the XTERRA Spain Championship will be held one week prior on June 2.

For more information visit xterragreece.com.

XTERRA England is the last of eight majors on the European Tour and offers up 40 qualifying spots to age group competitors interesting in racing at XTERRA Worlds in Maui on Oct. 27.

The event combines a 1.5km swim, 30km mountain bike, and 10km trail run.  The swim will be held in Vachery Pond, one of Surrey’s best kept secrets.  It’s a 12th century private spring fed lake almost 900-meters long and covering over 50 acres.

The bike course – designed by XTERRA Pro and Surrey legend Sam Gardner (former winner of XTERRA Guam, Saipan, and Philippine Championship races) features two loops through woodland single-track, country trails and fast open off-road paths within the Vachery Estate.

“Sam has designed a route that encourages racing; he was determined to make sure his course design wasn’t a test of a racer’s hard-core mountain bike technical riding skills or insanity, with huge jumps and scary drop-offs. After all, it is a triathlon,” said race organizer Mark Davis.

The run features two 5K loops on tracks, trails and paths including The Downs Link – a disused railway line forming part of the 37 miles (59km) long-distance path linking St Martha’s Hill, near Guildford, to near Shoreham on the south coast.

To watch a video from the test event in Surrey and to sign-up visit http://xterra-england.co.uk/

“XTERRA in Europe has never been stronger,” said XTERRA managing director Dave Nicholas. “We started XTERRA in Europe in 1999 and have seen the popularity grow by leaps and bounds in recent years. Our big races are selling-out, and every October at the XTERRA World Championship in Maui we are noticing an increasing number of qualifiers from nearly every nation in the European Union. “

In 2013 XTERRA will host eight XTERRA World Championship qualifying events in Europe, and award approximately $150,000 (US) in prize money to professionals.

The Series starts in Murcia, Spain on June 2, travels to Lake Plastira in Greece for the first-time on June 15, discovers a new venue at Vallee de Joux in Switzerland on June 29, heads to Gerardmer, France on July 7, visits a new Italian stop in Abruzzo on July 20, heads to Prachatice in the Czech Republic on Aug. 10, then to Zittau, Germany on the following Saturday, Aug. 17; and the Series concludes in Surrey, England on September 8.

Professional athletes will count their best six of eight scores while amateurs will count their best five.

Nicolas Lebrun won the European Tour for the fourth time in 2012; while former Olympian Helena Erbenova won the women’s crown for the first time.

See the full schedule of events, athlete profiles, and learn how the series works at www.xterraeurope.com.

Ritz-Carlton, Kapalua (October 28, 2012) – A tsunami warning for the Hawaiian Islands was canceled early on Sunday morning, and then Javier Gomez Noya and Lesley Paterson went out and stormed the competition at the 2012 XTERRA World Championship at the Ritz-Carlton Kapalua on the island of Maui.

Gomez Noya was the overall winner, completing the course (1.5-kilometer swim, 30K mountain bike, 10K trail run) in 2 hours, 26 minutes, 50 seconds.  The 29-year-old from Spain followed up his silver medal performance at the 2012 Olympics with an impressive victory in his inaugural XTERRA appearance.

Paterson was the top female, not only repeating her accomplishment of a year ago, but bettering it. She finished with a time of 2:44:11, which was nearly two minutes faster than her winning time of a year ago.

A capacity – and XTERRA World Championship record – field of 750 athletes from around the world participated in the event, which was held on Maui for the 17th consecutive year.

As if the lead-in drama to the event were not enough, a tsunami warning was issued for all of the Hawaiian Island late Saturday night. Many of the athletes stayed up late trying to get updates on the tsunami, and some were even evacuated from their hotels or homes.

“I think maybe some of the athletes had to evacuate or had to stay up a little bit later, but I don’t think it had a big influence on the race,” said Conrad Stoltz, who placed third overall. “I think we were lucky to have a fair world championship.”

Indeed, the conditions did not adversely affect the race, although an expected swell did create a rougher-than-normal ocean swim.

Men’s race: Gomez Noya proves his XTERRA worth

All of the XTERRA pros know who Javier Gomez Noya is. He is, after all, a two-time ITU triathlon world champ in addition to the 2012 Olympic silver medalist. They just didn’t know how good he might be on an XTERRA course.

He turned out to be exceptional. Gomez Noya made quite the XTERRA debut, running away to the overall win.

“I didn’t expect that,” Gomez Noya said. “I had a really good swim … but I knew these guys like Conrad (Stoltz) and the good mountain bikers, they are much better than me, especially on the technical sections, so my tactic was try to push really hard uphill because then you can go hard uphill and then on the downhill just not even try to go crazy fast, just try to recover and avoid crashing. It worked pretty well.”

Gomez Noya won it with an astonishing swim and a strong finishing run. He exited the water by himself, with the others more than a minute behind. He maintained the lead for most of the bike, before Conrad Stoltz passed him late on the course.

“I was surprised they caught me so late,” Gomez Noya said. “It was mile 14, maybe something like that when Conrad came. The last technical section before transition, he made a little gap, maybe 20 seconds, 30 seconds.”

Stoltz’s lead would be short-lived, as Gomez Noya regained control early on the run course. “Javier is an amazing all-around athlete,” said Stoltz, who owns a record four XTERRA world titles. “When I heard he was going to do this race, I knew he was definitely going to be a factor. Apart from his amazing physical abilities, his mental game is top notch.”

Gomez Noya, who received $20,000 for the overall victory, had the fastest swim and run times of the day.

XTERRA USA Champion Josiah Middaugh (pictured) from Colorado also passed Stoltz during the run and finished second in 2:27:40. He has been chasing the XTERRA world title since 2001, and this was his best showing to date.

“I’m very happy with my race, I felt like I had the best day that I could with the skills that I have,” said Middaugh, 34. “Lost a ton of time in the water and I knew that was going to be the story.”

Middaugh came out of the water nearly four minutes after Gomez Noya, and the difference proved to be too much, even though Middaugh had the fastest best bike time of the day (1:23:34).

“We knew he was the most talented guy here, we just didn’t know how his skills were on a mountain bike,” Middaugh said of Gomez Noya. “We had a really hard time making back time on him. He raced really smart.”

Stoltz (pictured) placed third in 2:30:03, and held off Costa Rica’s Leonardo Chacon late in the run. “I didn’t see Josiah until 2K into the run,” Stoltz said. “He came flying by.”

Chacon finished fourth, just 16 seconds behind Stoltz. Victor Del Corral from Spain was fifth, just four seconds behind Chacon. It was the XTERRA World Championship debut for Chacon and Del Corral.

The top 10 men were an indication of the international diversity of the field. Eight countries were represented in that top 10, including sixth through 10th: Brent McMahon (Canada), Asa Shaw (France), Tim Don (United Kingdom), Yeray Luxem (Belgium) and Olivier Marceau (France).

Former XTERRA world champs Nicolas Lebrun from France and Eneko Llanos from Spain placed 11th and 12th, respectively.

Sebastian Kienle from Germany placed 14th just two weeks after placing fourth at the Ironman World Championship on the Big Island. He was the only professional to enter both races, and was thus the winner of the Hawaiian Airlines Double Award and $2,500.

Gomez Noya is the third Spaniard to win the XTERRA World Championship, joining Eneko Llanos (2003, 2004, 2009) and Ruben Ruzafa (2008).

Post-Race Pro Interview with top 3 men and women

2012 XTERRA WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP PRO MEN

Also:  Nicolas Lebrun, Eneko Llanos, Felix Schumann, Sebastian Kienle, Francisco Serrano, Felipe Moletta, Braden Currie, Mike Vine, Brice Daubord, Jan Kubicek, Sam Gardner, Francois Carloni, Richard Ussher, Jim Thijs, Jean-Philippe Thibodeau, Pierre-Yves Facomprez, Branden Rakita, Llewellyn Holmes, Mark Leishman, Cody Waite,  Jan Francke, Cid Santos, Takahiro Ogasawara, Craig Evans, Ben Allen, Damian Gonzalez, William Ross, Jimmy Archer, Kenji Takeya, Yu Yumoto, Denilson Freitas
Women’s race: Paterson prevails again

After breaking through for her first XTERRA World Championship last year, Paterson did it again. She was the top female, finishing with a time of 2:44:11.

“It was perfect from start to finish for me,” she said. “I’ve done some great training leading up to this. This was my big focus of the year, and it panned out exactly how I wanted it to.”

The 32-year-old from Scotland (pictured) took the lead early in the bike and then ran away from the other women. She finished more than four minutes ahead of runner-up Barbara Riveros (2:48:18) from Chile. Marie Rabie from South Africa was third in 2:53:55, and Heather Jackson from Carlsbad, Calif., was fourth in 2:54:12. Riveros, Rabie and Jackson were all making their XTERRA World Championship debuts.

Paterson’s reputation has always been as a running specialist, but she has taken her mountain bike skills to a higher level in recent years and she now has two XTERRA world titles (and an ITU Cross World Championship) to show for it.

“I’ve done a lot of running off the bike, a lot of strength running off the bike, so I was prepared for that,” Paterson said. “To be honest, the bike felt real comfortable and I didn’t push it too hard so I knew I could come out and do a good run. I knew these ITU girls are quick runners so I had to really have my A game for that.”

True to form, Paterson had the best run time of the day (40:51), but for the first time in her five years of entering the XTERRA World Championship, she posted the fastest bike time among the women.

Paterson received $20,000 for the victory and is now one of three women with multiple XTERRA World Championships. Julie Dibens (2009, 2008, 2007) and Melanie McQuaid (2006, 2005, 2003) are the others.

“Congratulations to Lesley, she’s awesome,” runner-up Riveros said. “I think I have to do more hard work. I can’t just come here and say I know how to ride a mountain bike.”

It was also an impressive debut for Riveros, who was the only female to get remotely close to Paterson. “I’m pretty happy,” Riveros said. “To race XTERRA was one of my dreams, so I really enjoyed to race here.”

Third-place Rabie proved her worth on the trails, following a fourth-place finish at the 2012 Olympics. She got off to a quick start, leading the women out of the swim, and then got passed only by Paterson and Riveros.

“It was totally unexpected,” Rabie said. “Nothing compared to Lesley. She just flew past me on the bike, and I was kind of waiting for the other girls to catch me and they never did.”

Heather Jackson had a strong run to finish in fourth place, and Jacqui Slack from the United Kingdom took fifth.

Rounding out the top 10 were (in order): Magali Tisseyre from Canada, Renata Bucher from Switzerland, former XTERRA world champ Shonny Vanlandingham from Colorado, Helena Erbenova from Czech Republic, and Marion Lorblanchet from France.

PRO WOMEN

Also:  Elizabeth Orchard, Danelle Kabush, Melanie McQuaid, Brandi Heisterman, Katie Button, Caroline Colonna, Tamara Donelson, Catherine Dunn
American teens take amateur titles

Among the age-group amateurs, a pair of California teenagers took the spotlight. Neilson Powless (pictured) from Roseville, Calif., was the top overall amateur with a time of 2:42:35, while Hannah Rae Finchamp from Altadena, Calif., was the top female amateur in 3:05:55.

Powless is 16 and a sophomore at Roosevelt High School; Finchamp is 16 and a junior at Maranatha High School. They are the youngest male and female to ever win the title of top overall amateur at the XTERRA World Championship.

It is also the first age-group XTERRA world title for Powless. Finchamp is now a three-time XTERRA world champ in the female 15-19 age group.

Powless exited the water in 15th place among the amateurs, but he eventually caught them all. His overall finishing time was 14 seconds ahead of New Zealand’s Oliver Shaw.

Finchamp’s win wasn’t nearly as close, as she finished more than seven minutes ahead of the next amateur female. Her finishing time would have placed her 13th among the pro women.

Colorado’s Anne Gonzales, who is 51, placed second among the amateur females with a time of 3:13:00. Sarah Backler from New Zealand was third in 3:14:55.

Here is the full list of age-group champions:

XTERRA WORLD CHAMPIONS (MALE AGE GROUP)

XTERRA WORLD CHAMPIONS (FEMALE AGE GROUP)

(#) denotes number of World Championships won – **Top Amateurs
Complete Results

Special award winners

Sebastian Kienle from Germany was the only pro competitor to take on both the XTERRA World Championship on Maui and the Ironman World Championship in Kona two weeks prior. He placed 14th in the XTERRA race and fourth in the Ironman, thus winning the Hawaiian Airlines Double Award and $2,500.

Age-group amateur winners of the Hawaiian Airlines Double Award were Anthony Snoble from New York and Martha Koekemoer from South Africa. They each received round-trip air tickets for two on Hawaiian Airlines.  Here’s a look at all the doublers…

Winners of the Leilani’s Run Prime Awards were Javier Gomez Noya (pro men), Lesley Paterson (pro women), Daniel Molnar (amateur men), Mimi Stockton (amateur women), Douglas Piil (Maui resident men) and Pamela Garcia-Neveu (Maui resident women). They each received certificates from Leilani’s on the Beach restaurant as the fastest runners on the 10K run course in their respective divisions.

Winners of the XTERRA Wetsuits Swim Prime Awards were Daniel Nelson and Hannah Rae Finchamp. That award goes to the fastest age-group swimmers.

Lebrun (pictured), a 39-year-old from Digne, France, was seventh out of the water then posted the fastest bike and run splits for a winning time of 2:17:44, just 27-seconds ahead of runner-up Asa Shaw.  With the win Lebrun also secured the Euro Tour Championship with 390 points (wins at Italy, Czech, Swiss, and a 2nd place at Germany).  Shaw finished second in the series with 380 points (wins at France and Germany, and 2nd place finishes at Czech and Swiss).

It marks the fourth time Lebrun has won the XTERRA European Tour title, and the first time since 2008.  The 2005 XTERRA World Champion now has 26 career XTERRA Championship victories since his first at the 2002 XTERRA East Championship in Richmond, VA.

“Today he beat them in their heads,” explained XTERRA managing director Dave Nicholas.  “There were four guys within 20-feet of each other coming off the bike.  That’s why he’s the professor.”

Aussie Ben Allen had the fastest swim and led the bike early before Shaw, Lebrun, and Olivier Marceau caught up towards the end of the bike.  On the run Lebrun took over and Shaw passed Allen for second-place.  Allen finished third, followed by Marceau and Francois Carloni in fifth.

“Beautiful day, I had legs and juice,” posted Lebrun to his Facebook page after the race.

ERBENOVA DOMINANT

In just her second year of racing XTERRA Helena Erbenova (pictured) has become a dominant force on the XTERRA European Tour.  The 33-year-old from Balatkova competed for the Czech Republic at the 2006 Winter Olympics, and has turned the grittiness learned from battling the cold into XTERRA success.

In her last six starts Erbenova finished a surprising third at the XTERRA World Championship last year, was second at the Euro Tour season-opener in Italy, and has since won four straight at XTERA France, Czech, Germany, and today – Switzerland.

While Erbenova came out of the water a full three minutes after the leaders – Jacqui Slack and Marion Lorblanchet – she crushed the bike (best split by four minutes) and the run (best run by two minutes) and won by nearly four minutes over last year’s Euro Tour Champ Marion Lorblanchet.

After a season spent battling injuries Lorblanchet came in healthy and was impressive for second-place, with XTERRA Italy champ Jacqui Slack in third, Carina Wasle fourth and Lenka Cibulkova fifth.

XTERRA Switzerland Elite Results

Pro Men

Pl  Name  Nat  Time
1  Nico Lebrun  FRA  2:17:44
2  Asa Shaw  FRA  2:18:12
3  Ben Allen  AUS  2:18:36
4  Olivier Marceau  SUI  2:21:32
5  Francois Carloni  FRA  2:24:24
6  Graham Wadsworth  GBR  2:25:16
7  Hector Guerra  ESP  2:25:30
8  Patrick Rhyner  SUI  2:25:58
9  Jan Kubicek  CZE  2:26:26
10  Pierre-Yves Facomprez  FRA  2:26:33

Also: Alexander Haas, Jim Thijs

Pro Women

Pl  Name  Country  Time
1  Helena Erbenova  CZE  2:38:35
2  Marion Lorblanchet  FRA  2:42:27
3  Jacqui Slack  GBR  2:43:54
4  Carina Wasle  AUT  2:47:47
5  Lenka Cibulkova  CZE  2:56:11
6  Laetitia Moreau  FRA  3:01:56

LEBRUN, ERBENOVA WIN EURO TOUR TITLES

Lebrun and Erbenova put exclamation points on fantastic seasons today in Switzerland.  Pros counted their best four finishes in the five-stop Tour.  Here’s a look at the top five in this years XTERRA European Tour. Complete standings with age group champions will be posted soon at www.xterraeurope.com.

Pos  Name  ITA  FRA  CZE  GER  SUI  TOT
1  Nico Lebrun, FRA  100  d82  100  90  100  390
2  Asa Shaw, FRA  x  100  90  100  90  380
3  Alexander Haas, GER  82  90  82  69  d41  323
4  Ben Allen, AUS  90  49  69  d41  82  290
5  Francois Carloni, FRA  63  63  x  63  69  258

Pos  Name  ITA  FRA  CZE  GER  SUI  TOT
1  Helena Erbenova, CZE  d90  100  100  100  100  400
2  Jacqui Slack, GBR  100  82  75  0  82  339
3  Carina Wasle, AUT  d69  75  90  75  75  315
4  Maud Golsteyn, NED  75  58  82  82  x  297
5  Lenka Cibulkova, CZE  x  x  69  58  69  196

Next on the XTERRA World Tour: The XTERRA Switzerland Championship is one of 16 major XTERRA World Tour events, and the last stop on the XTERRA European Tour.  Up next, the XTERRA USA Championship to conclude the America Tour on Sept. 22, then on to XTERRA Worlds in Maui.

Feb 26  XTERRA South Africa Championship, Grabouw, Western Cape
Mar 10  XTERRA Guam Championship, Piti
Mar 18  XTERRA Philippines Championship, Cebu
Mar 24  XTERRA Saipan Championship, Northern Marianas
Apr 14  XTERRA New Zealand Championship, Rotorua
May 27  XTERRA Italy Championship*, Orosei, Sardinia
July 8  XTERRA France Championship*, Xonrupt, Gerardmer
July 15  XTERRA Brazil Championship, Manaus, Amazon
Aug 4  XTERRA Czech Championship*, Prachatice, South Bohemia
Aug 4  XTERRA Mexico Championship, Tapalpa, Jalisco
Aug 11  XTERRA Germany Championship*, Zittau
Aug 25  XTERRA Japan Championship, Marunuma
Sept 2  XTERRA Canada Championship, Canmore,  A.B.
Sept 8  XTERRA Switzerland*, Prangins
Sept 22  XTERRA USA Championship, Ogden/Snowbasin, UT
Oct 28  XTERRA World Championship, Maui

A few days before the third edition of XTERRA Switzerland – off-road triathlon – the balance of entries looks auspiciously with 600 participants -on 650 places available- on 7 open categories (Classic Men Classic Women, Classic Relay Men, Women Classic Relay, Mixed Relay Classic, Mens Short Shorts and Women).

With an impressive panel of international athletes ready to pounce on September 8 in Prangins, this international meeting of “green” triathlon could not exist without the support of sponsors and of the Commune of Prangins, essential , to ensure the success of this event. The presence of nearly 150 volunteers is also essential to ensure the safety of the athletes.

Prangins, a village of about 4000 inhabitants, with its airfield and its National Museum, is proud to host a sporting event of this magnitude, because the best international triathletes in this discipline, where you have to pick up on the remote queen (called Classic) 1.5km swim, 35km bike and 10km of running, will be on the starting line. Because the stakes are high. Indeed the XTERRA Switzerland is the fifth and final leg of the XTERRA European Tour – and thus the final – after which the titles of the 2012 XTERRA European Tour winners will be awarded, both among the Pros and in the age groups .

Within the Men Pros three athletes eligible for the 2012 XTERRA European Tour title. With two victories to his credit (XTERRA Italy and XTERRA Czech Republic), and a third and a second place in all four events before Prangins, the French Nicolas Lebrun is on course to hang this title to his name. In the current ranking he is followed by the German Alexander Haas with 49 points behind and by the English Asa Shaw third with 82 points. Knowing a win counts for 100 points you can expect a good battle between these three athletes for the coronation.

Within the Women Pros, we do not see how the title could escape the Czech Helena Erbenova who clearly dominates this year’s XTERRA European Tour. With three victories and a second place key on XTERRA Italy, only a mechanical failure could see her off the victory. She is followed by the Austrian Carina Wasle which has a delay of 81 points, and the Dutch Maud Golsteyn who is 93 points behind. Our Swiss representative, Renata Bucher, can not claim for the title, with only two legs competed on all four before XTERRA Switzerland.

It will be the same for the Franco-Swiss Olivier Marceau and the French Marion Lorblanchet. Both cannot also claim the title this year and consequently defend the one they acquired in 2011. Olivier Marceau indeed is currently in the 9th place overall, being not aligned on the XTERRA Italy and the XTERRA Czech Republic. As for Marion Lorblanchet a nasty injury forced her to rest since the XTERRA Italy last May. However, they will both be on the starting line in Prangins, both having confirmed their presence.  We bet that these two athletes will thirst for victory.

Titles are involved, but qualifying places for the XTERRA World Championships in Maui on October 28 are also the key to this Swiss leg. As per the two previous editions, 34 seats will be distributed to join the off-road triathlon elite in a few weeks and rub alongside the best. We must therefore rely on a few outsiders.

For these athletes it will be essential to do a perfect race and to aim for the podium to get out of the water in great position to be among the first athletes during the mountain bike laps. The mountain bike course, although not representing a major difficulty, however, requires the dexterity and engagement to realise a good race. The paths are in some places narrow and winding. We recall that two sectors will take place in the river Promenthoux, a first sector to the tune of the Electric factory SEIC and a second under the Route de l’Etraz, and these two passages could be decisive. This will effectively require to manage the entire mountain bike course, a 17km loop to complete twice before concluding with the running, two loops of 5km from the Promenthoux beach and the Bois des Âges before crossing the finish line.

The athletes are invited to attend de pre-race briefing on Friday 7 September 2012 at 19h00.

Timetable 8 September 2012

09h00 – XTERRA Light

14h00 – XTERRA Switzerland Classic + XTERRA Relay

Corinne Kappeler Fromentin                                     Serge Ledermann

XTERRA Switzerland                                                    XTERRA Switzerland

Comité d’organisation/Médias                 Président

+41 78 665 76 29                                                            +41 79 658 53 34

ck@xterraswitzerland.ch sl@xterraswitzerland.ch

www.xterraswitzerland.ch

The pro men’s championship will depend on this race.  Nico Lebrun and Asa Shaw are mathematically tied coming into Swiss and young Alexander Haas can take it if Lebrun or Shaw falter.  For the women pros, Helena Erbenova would need a complete meltdown to lose but Carina Wasle and Maud Golsteyn could catch2nd place Jacqui Slack.  Again it will come down to who finishes where in Switzerland.

For the age group contenders there are many races not decided.  Keep in mind it is the best three finishes that count points for the age group racer.  The tie breaker goes – first to the person with most wins and -second to the person who finishes best at the last race.  If you are tied and both have a win – the person who finishes on top at Swiss is the European Champion.

Beyond the championship, the location at Prangins is beautiful.  You swim in famous Lac Leman, bike and run through pristine forests, have some very unusual water crossings and run directly by 7 time Grand Prix World champion Michael Schumacher’s house.  A great after party keeps everyone dancing well into the night.  The organization is first class.  And your last chance to qualify for the XTERRA world championship at Maui is here.

XTERRA managing director Dave Nicholas brings us this report…

What a surprising day, conjuring up some famous American cliches like “It ain’t over until the fat lady sings;  don’t count your chickens until they’re hatched.  And don’t say who finished where; until they get to the finish line.

I was no more than half a K away from the finish as I wrote down how the race was ending, but had some big surprises when I looked at the official results..  more on this as we go with the story.

3am on race morning it was raining hard.  At 8:30am race morning it started sprinkling again.  We all thought it was going to be a cold, muddy, wet race.  But the weather Gods came through and with a bit of wind and the sun coming out by 10am we had almost perfect conditions.  Lots of complaints about no wetsuits early on, but the water was 22 degrees C and the rules are the rules.  Because the air temp had risen by 10 degrees since we arrived, there were no big problems with the swim.

No surprise on the swim with Aussie Ben Allen, Scot Rory Downie and the Shaw brothers leading quickly.  There was a twist in the women’s swim with ITU racer Kathrin Muller leading by over a minute on Jacqui Slack.  At the top of the highest climb the first surprise was not that Alex Haas had the lead, but some guy, #268 was second about 10m behind.  I looked on my elite start list and he was not listed.  Who was this guy?  3rd was Asa Shaw followed closely by Sebastian Kienle, Olivier Marceau, Karl Shaw with Nico Lebrun and Yeray Luxem side by side.  We did not see Richard Ussher only to find out he had a crash on the first downhill and was out.  “I was right behind Nico starting the downhill.  He went around a corner and was gone!  I went a little wide and hit a small stump and down I went”.  Ussher got a bad cut, down to the bone, from his chain, but as a tough Kiwi, he had it taped up and one leg rode his bike down the hill to get medical help.

So who is 268?  Turns out it was Marvin Gruget.  Just 20 years old but already an XTERRA World Champ in the 15-19 age group.  And his position was no mistake.  He was up front as a 20-24 age grouper.

The next surprise was that Kathrin Muller still had the lead by 1:30 over Helena Erbanova.  South Africa’s Carla van Huyssteen was just 30 seconds farther back and Jacqui Slack right with her.  Maud Golsteyn and Carina Wasle were farther back but riding well.

As the riders negotiated the super technical rock garden downhill young Gruget had the lead all by himself.  Asa Shaw and German favorite Alexander Haas were together again as they did in Czech – it is clear these two guys have very equal riding skills.  Now up to fourth was Lebrun and not far behind young Frenchman Francois Carloni and then Czech Jan Kubicek, Yeray Luxem and Karl Shaw.  Kubicek was riding really well and Karl was showing his mtb skills were rising steeply.

For the women suddenly it was Carla first, Jacqui and then Erbanova in 3rd followed by Maud and Muller and Carina. Very unexpected.

Now the story goes full circle.  I am in the forest above the lake about half a K from the finish.  Asa Shaw is smiling big and running easy.  Nico comes by over 2 minutes later asking how far behind he is.  About 20 seconds later comes Gruget solid in 3rd and Haas in 4th.  Then coming on fast is Karl Shaw running really hard, no smiles here – with Jan Kubicek about 5 feet behind, a great sprint to the finish.  But what I never found out until later is Shaw and Kubicek, who were putting in the two fastest runs of the day, passed both Haas and then Gruget about 300m from the finish!  Amazing.  5th and 6th suddenly were 3rd and 4th.  These 4 guys finished within 37 seconds of each other.  Like I said “It ain’t over till it’s over”.

Carloni nearly made the pass on Haas and was chased to the line by Yeray Luxem and Sebastien Kienle.  Those three were within 15 seconds of each other.  Fast and furious at the finish line.

Back where I was, Helena looked tired but was leading by half a minute over Carla, who was only slightly ahead of Jacqui Slack and then came Kathrin Muller and Maud Golsteyn.  But again, what happened where I was, had little to do with the final results.  I said it was a bit of a surprise to see Carla and Jacqui ahead of Erbanova at the last downhill.  Both of those women are race winners and very fast, but Erbanova is simply a step ahead this season.  What happened to get them up front was not a happy item.

After the race Nico told me he had gotten off course taking Yeray and Sebastian with him.  An arrow had come loose (probably during the storm the night before) and was pointing straight when the course went right.  Nico realized it quickly and turned around and got back on course.  But by the time Carla and Jacqui got there the arrow had fallen off and they went straight ahead.  They did get back on course but the route they took was not the race trail and put them at the front.  We all hate it when these things happen, but it resulted in those women being DQ’d moving Muller to second, Maud to 3rd, Carina Wasle to 4th and Czech Hana Kolarova to 5th.

A lot of surprises at the end of a great day of racing.  The Erdinger beer man was pouring them two at a time about 40’ from the finish, heaps of recovery food and two great announcers doing everything in German, Czech and English.  Later that evening a hot salsa/latino band took the awards stage and the place was still rocking well after midnight.

The final European race is not until Sept 8 so everyone has a bit of time to recover from these back-to-back events.  For the men it could not be tighter.  When we toss out 1 event both Asa Shaw and Nico Lebrun have two wins and a second.  For the women, poor Jacqui gets a 0 and now Maud and Carina are well within striking distance and only one point apart to challenge for second.

Switzerland is a very different course from what we have seen this season.  Far more flat with a very fast run.  Karl Shaw is now getting on par with his brother Asa and will Team Shaw gang up on Lebrun?  Swiss will be a favorable course for our Brit Jacqui but Maud is from the Netherlands where the highest mountain is about 20’ high and she can power on the flats.  It will be interesting for sure.

XTERRA GERMANY CHAMPIONSHIP – 2012 ELITE RESULTS

Pro Men

Pos  First  Last  Nat  Time
1  Asa  Shaw   FRA  02:28:54
2  Nicolas  Lebrun  FRA  02:31:45
3  Karl  Shaw   FRA  02:32:14
4  Jan  Kubicek  CZE  02:32:18
6  Alexander  Haas  GER  02:32:51
7  Francois  Carloni  FRA  02:33:01
8  Yeray  Luxem  BEL  02:33:13
9  Sebastian  Kienle  GER  02:33:16
10  Felix  Schumann  GER  02:33:51

Also: Kris Coddens, Ben Allen, Stuart Marais, Nico Pfitzenmaier, Lars Van Der Eerden, Sebastien Neef, Graham Wadsworth, Fabrizio Baralla, Rory Downie, Clemens Coenen, Olivier Marceau

Pro Women

Pos  First  Last  Nat  Time
1  Helena  Erbenová  CZE  02:51:43
2  Kathrin  Müller  GER  02:54:37
3  Maud  Golsteyn  NED  02:54:41
4  Carina  Wasle  AUT  03:01:50
5  Hana  Kolarova  CZE  03:07:28
6  SABRINA  ENAUX  FRA  03:08:05
7  Lenka  Cibulkova  CZE  03:21:50
8  Judy  Van Den Berg  NED  03:22:32
9  Alexandra  Borrelly  FRA  03:28:35

XTERRA EUROPEAN TOUR TOP 5 (AFTER 4 OF 5)

Elites count four of five results, thus dropping their lowest score.

Elite Men

Elite Women

Next on the XTERRA World Tour: The XTERRA Mexico Championship is one of 16 major World Tour championship events,and the fourth of five on the XTERRA European Tour.  The Euro Tour finale is at XTERRA Switzerland on September 8.

Feb 26  XTERRA South Africa Championship, Grabouw, Western Cape
Mar 10  XTERRA Guam Championship, Piti
Mar 18  XTERRA Philippines Championship, Cebu
Mar 24  XTERRA Saipan Championship, Northern Marianas
Apr 14  XTERRA New Zealand Championship, Rotorua
May 27  XTERRA Italy Championship*, Orosei, Sardinia
July 8  XTERRA France Championship*, Xonrupt, Gerardmer
July 15  XTERRA Brazil Championship, Manaus, Amazon
Aug 4  XTERRA Czech Championship*, Prachatice, South Bohemia
Aug 4  XTERRA Mexico Championship, Tapalpa, Jalisco
Aug 11  XTERRA Germany Championship*, Zittau
Aug 25  XTERRA Japan Championship, Marunuma
Sept 2  XTERRA Canada Championship, Canmore,  A.B.
Sept 8  XTERRA Switzerland*, Prangins
Sept 22  XTERRA USA Championship, Ogden/Snowbasin, UT
Oct 28  XTERRA World Championship, Maui