Reigning XTERRA Pan America Tour Champion Suzie Snyder, who is on top of the tour standings once again after winning the opener in Argentina and finishing 2nd to Barbara Riveros at XTERRA Chile, says she is already looking forward to racing at XTERRA Oak Mountain on May 21^st in Pelham, Alabama.

“I love that XTERRA Oak Mountain has a non-wetsuit swim in perfect temperature water,” said Snyder. “The mountain bike course is a shady mostly single track mountain so it’s fun, fast and technically challenging.,” “The run course is also shady, mostly single track and I like that it is a 2 lap format which is great for previewing in the days prior to the event.”

Joining Snyder at the 12th annual XTERRA Oak Mountain this year will be the 2017 XTERRA Real woman’s champion, Julie Baker, who cruised to an easy victory there last week. “”I’ve never done XTERRA Oak Mountain, but I’ve heard such good things about the trails. so that ‘s what’s next for me,” said Julie Baker. “My goal for the race is to challenge myself, see where I can improve, and keep having fun.”

“This course is such a hidden gem!” said Kara LaPoint, who finished third in XTERRA Oak Mountain last year. “It’s a gorgeous setting, a calm and warm swim, and some of the most fun bike and run trails I’ve ever raced!”

Emma Garrard, the 2015 winner of the XTERRA World Championship in Maui will also be at the start. This will be her first race since the birth of her second child in January, but given her steady training and talent on the hills, she is definitely a contender. “I’m excited to see where I am at the start of the season,” said Garrard. “Josiah [Middaugh] has a great training plan for me and it’s feels good to be back outside doing what I love.”

XTERRA Oak Mountain promises a strong turnout with some of the best pro and amateur triathletes in the world.

“The course was unlike anything I had ridden before,” said Christy Fritts, who won her age group last year as well as an entry to XTERRA Worlds in Maui. “The bike was smooth, fast, tight, and twisty with gnarly rooted sections, a few rock gardens and some fun downhill sections.”

XTERRA Oak Mountain will serve as a qualifier for the 2017 XTERRA World Championship, a gold level XTERRA Pan American Tour stop and a 100-point level XTERRA America Tour championship race. XTERRA will also offer a shorter distance sprint race – 750m for the swim, 15km mountain bike and a 5km trail run.

The race starts in Double Oak Lake, a long narrow warm water lake.  Sprint racers swim a 750-meter loop while championship competitors double that with two 750-meter laps separated by a short beach shuffle in-between.

From there the long, single-loop 20-mile mountain bike course starts at about 500 feet elevation, twists, turns, and rolls through the forest for seven miles then begins a gradual 700-foot climb to the summit at Johnson Mountain – named after former XTERRA competitor and tireless local trail volunteer Bill Johnson.

The descent is a fast, wild ride highlighted by the notorious “blood rock” section – a series of tricky to maneuver, uneven and jagged rocks followed by more fun sections on the west side of the lake filled with rolling rights and lefts.

The event will feature $15,000 USD in prize money for elite athletes, who will compete over a 1.5km swim, 30km mountain bike and 10km trail run. For amateurs, there will be 51 spots into the XTERRA World Championship – to be held October 29 in Maui – up-for-grabs.

Learn more and register at www.xterrapelham.com.

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