Moorea, Tahiti – Sam Osborne and Jacqui Allen captured the third-annual XTERRA Tahiti Championship elite titles on a gorgeous afternoon in Moorea on Saturday.
It’s the third win of the season for Osborne and the second for Allen. They both won at XTERRA New Zealand one-month ago and Osborne captured the season opener in Saipan back in March.
In the men’s race Osborne, Ben Allen, and reigning World Champ Mauricio Mendez were all together out of the swim, however, “Ben and I absolutely laid it down through transition and onto the bike and managed to force a gap on Mauricio,” said Osborne.
Mendez charged back and got in front, but one small slip and he was off his bike and pushing it up a hill when Osborne and Allen attacked again.
“It was just the perfect pedal by him on an uphill to take the lead and Ben stayed on my wheel and we rode really hard for the next 10-minutes or so and nailed the gap,” said Osborne.
Turned out Mendez, at roughly mile five of the bike, broke his derailleur and was done for the day.
“I’m not sure if it was a tree root or a rock that I hit, but it was an unfixable mechanical,” said Mendez.
Neither Osborne nor Allen knew Mendez was done, however, so they kept pouring on the steam.
“It was like a time trial the whole bike,” said Osborne. “Ben was descending really well today and I wasn’t able to gap him on the bike at all.”
The two rode into transition together but Osborne made a quicker go of it, was first out on to the run, built a 20-second gap by the top of the climb “it was 5K up, and 5K down,” and held on for the win.
“Onto the run, I got a bit of a gap out of transition and got into a good rhythm but on the uphill I started to cramp quite bad and was in damage control to the top,” said Osborne. “Was a godsend to get to the downhill and let my legs just roll it out.”
Osborne’s winning time was 3:33:49, about one-minute ahead of Allen.
“What an incredible day,” exclaimed Allen. “I lead out of the water and nailed the first 5km on the bike with Sammy hot on my heels! We had a gap on Mau, and he made a superhuman effort to close it, but Sam attacked and I managed to follow and the elastic band broke for Mau and Sam and I drilled the bike knowing Mau would be hot on our heels come the run. We exited the bike together and it took me a few kilometers before my legs came good but Sam took off from the start. The gap was closing as Sam was hurting from his effort and I could sense I may have a chance, but with little course left to run, Sam took the win and I finished 2nd. The course, people and atmosphere was outstanding! I have loved every minute here and Jacqui and I will definitely be back again next year!”
Christophe Betard from France, who was second here behind Josiah Middaugh last year, took third on the day followed by Tahiti’s own Cedric Wane.
In the women’s race, it was all Jacqui Allen, who was the only elite female in the event.
“What a super location for an XTERRA,” she said. “It has everything. Crystal clear waters, mountain bike terrain with short steep climbs, rooty technical sections, fast rocky downhills and tricky creek crossings. The run is much the same and probably one of my favorite run courses on the circuit. I was most impressed with the whole organization of the event from start to finish. The passion shone through all weekend with the event being a massive success, I would highly recommend this as a bucket list race for anyone interested in the Tahitian culture. thanks to Jean-Michel and the crew for making this happen.”
Cedric Tourneur from Tahiti and Mimi Stockton from Michigan won the amateur titles, and 26 amateurs punched qualified to race at the XTERRA World Championship in Maui this October.
More images and video from the event will be available soon on their Facebook page.
Elite Results:
Pos Name, NAT Points Time Prize Money 1 Sam Osborne, NZL 75 2:33:49 $1,200 2 Ben Allen, AUS 67 2:35:05 $900 3 Christophe Betard, FRA 61 2:46:59 $700 4 Cedric Wane, FRA 56 2:49:42 $550 1 Jacqui Allen, GBR 75 3:05:46 $1,200XTERRA Tahiti was the sixth of seven races on this year’s XTERRA Asia-Pacific Tour, and with the win Osborne takes a commanding lead into the XTERRA Asia-Pacific Tour finale at XTERRA Japan in Hokkaido on September 2.
ASIA-PACIFIC TOUR ELITE STANDINGS
After 6 (As of 5.6.17)
2017 XTERRA World Championship Qualifying Series Schedule
XTERRA Tahiti was the 15th of 41 events where amateur athletes from around the world could qualify to race at the 22nd annual XTERRA World Championship in Maui on October 29.
Date Race Elite Winners or Location Feb 25 XTERRA South Africa Richard Murray / Flora Duffy Mar 4 XTERRA Motatapu Dougal Allan / Josie Wilcox Mar 18 XTERRA Saipan + Silver Sam Osborne / Carina Wasle Mar 25 XTERRA Argentina # Silver Gonzalo Tellechea / Suzie Snyder Apr 1 XTERRA Thailand + Silver Kieran McPherson / Renata Bucher Apr 1 XTERRA Chile # Silver Felipe Barraza / Barbara Riveros Apr 2 XTERRA Malta * Silver Roger Serrano / Brigitta Poor Apr 8 XTERRA New Zealand + Silver Sam Osborne / Jacqui Allen Apr 9 XTERRA Costa Rica # Silver Josiah Middaugh / Suzie Snyder Apr 16 XTERRA La Reunion Ruben Ruzafa / Carina Wasle Apr 23 XTERRA Danao + GOLD Bradley Weiss / Carina Wasle Apr 23 XTERRA Cyprus * Silver Yeray Luxem / Brigitta Poor Apr 29 XTERRA Langkawi + GOLD Osborne,Allen,Weiss,McPherson/Wasle Apr 30 XTERRA Greece * Silver Ruben Ruzafa, Helena Erbenova May 6 XTERRA Tahiti + Silver Sam Osborne / Jacqui Allen May 14 XTERRA Spain * Silver Taragonna May 14 XTERRA Brazil # Silver Ilhabela, Sao Paolo May 20 XTERRA Oak Mountain # GOLD Pelham, AL, USA May 27 XTERRA Portugal * Silver Golega Jun 10 XTERRA Belgium * Silver Namur Jun 17 XTERRA Mine over Matter ^ Milton, Ontario, Canada Jun 18 XTERRA Finland * Silver Imatra Jun 24 XTERRA Switzerland * GOLD Vallee de Joux Jul 2 XTERRA France * GOLD Xonrupt Jul 9 XTERRA Victoria # Silver Victoria, B.C., Canada Jul 15 XTERRA Beaver Creek # GOLD Beaver Creek, CO, USA Jul 30 XTERRA Abruzzo * Silver Scanno, Abruzzo, Italy Aug 5 XTERRA Mexico # GOLD Tapalpa Aug 5 XTERRA Norway * Silver Norefjell Aug 6 XTERRA Canmore ^ Canmore, Alberta, Canada Aug 12 XTERRA Quebec ^ Quebec City, Canada Aug 12 XTERRA Parry Sound ^ Ontario, Canada Aug 13 XTERRA Dominican Republic # Silver Barahona Aug 13 XTERRA Poland * Silver Krakow Aug 19 XTERRA Germany * GOLD Zittau Aug 26 XTERRA Sweden * Silver Hammarbybacken, Stockholm Aug 26 XTERRA Sleeping Giant ^ Thunder Bay, ON, Canada Sep 2 XTERRA Japan + Silver Hokkaido Sep 3 XTERRA European Championship (DEN) * GOLD Mons Klint Sep 16 XTERRA Pan Am Championship / USA # D-GOLD Ogden, Utah, USA Oct 29 XTERRA World Championship Kapalua, Maui, Hawaii* XTERRA European Tour / # XTERRA Pan American Tour / + Asia-Pacific Tour
Silver = Min. $7,500 pro purse & 75-point scale // GOLD = Min $15,000 pro purse & 100-point scale
The post Osborne, Allen win XTERRA Tahiti appeared first on XTERRA.
Source | Back to News