Mendez, Paterson win XTERRA Pan Am Championship
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Mauricio Mendez from Mexico and Lesley Paterson from Scotland captured the XTERRA Pan America Championship race on a beautiful day around Snowbasin Resort near Ogden, Utah this morning.
The challenge started with a one-mile swim in Pineview Reservoir (4,900-feet elevation), followed with an 18-mile mountain bike leg that climbed more than 3,000-feet to the top of Sardine Peak (7,300-feet elevation) and culminated with a 7-mile trail run featuring another 700-feet of climbing on trails in the Wasatch Range.
In the men’s elite race Mendez came out of the water with Australian Ben Allen, took the lead during the swim-to-bike transition and led the rest of the way, taking the tape in 2:22:50, nearly two-minutes ahead of last year’s winner Josiah Middaugh of Colorado.
“Today was just perfect. I mean, I felt good on the swim, we worked at having a good pace. When we were out of the swim, and we noticed we had a big gap – Ben Allen and me – I was just feeling confident about it and when we hit the dirt I did an attack and I felt great,” said Mendez, the 21-year-old reigning XTERRA World Champion.
“I was just attacking the whole time because I knew that I’d have big sharks behind me and they could catch me at any time so I was trying to push as hard as possible. Then when I hit the run, and someone told me I was leading by one minute I just knew that, I mean, I am so used to chasing Josiah the whole time and now that I had him behind me I knew that I had made a good effort on the bike but now I was worried to be caught by him.”
The 2015 XTERRA World Champion Josiah Middaugh came out of the water about 1:40 behind Mendez, made up 30 seconds of that by posting the fastest bike split of the day (1:24:37), but couldn’t close the gap on the run.
“Mauricio was out in front from the get go and he put an attack early on the bike and you know I did everything I could to try to try to reel him back in but I just wasn’t making back the time very quick,” said Middaugh, who overtook Branden Rakita to win the XTERRA Pan America Tour title with his second-place showing today. “I was pushing hard but not making the time. Hats off to him, he was riding really strong and had just a killer pace up that climb and it was everything I could do to just keep it close.”
Asked if he thought he could catch Mendez on the run, Middaugh added, “Yeah, I thought you never know what can happen. Maybe somebody gets tired or pushed too hard on the bike but Mauricio, I’ve never seen him give up a lead so I knew it was a tall ask but I thought if I kept my head down and ran hard I’d make back a little bit of time.”
Bradley Weiss, two weeks removed from winning the XTERRA European Championship in Denmark, rode with Middaugh practically the whole bike and was second into T2 just ahead of Middaugh.
“Coming into altitude I knew it was going to be tough to reach that top 5% you need racing against these guys,” said Weiss. “I had no pressure on myself and I’ve never been so relaxed before a race. I was super chill. Coming in with that relaxed mindset did help me a little, but still the swim was such a shamble. Swimming at altitude you can’t breathe. So, I just tried to limit my losses a bit but I was within a minute of the leaders so I’m pretty happy with that. Considering I didn’t feel like I was moving very well. Onto the bike I settled into a pretty good pace and then Josiah caught me super early so I was like quite surprised about that. When he came past I thought ‘OK this isn’t too bad I can hang on to this’ and then we rode together all the way to the end. Then he caught a rear flat on the last descent so that slowed him down a bit, that’s how I got past, otherwise we would have come in together which we did basically.”
Weiss finished third nearly two minutes behind Middaugh.
“Starting the run, I felt like my run legs were pretty descent,” said Weiss. “I had a little bit of a lead on Josiah going up and I thought hey, maybe second place is in the cards but then once he got going, I was like, OK. I’ll settle for third today. And Mauricio coming from Mexico City had been training at 3000 meters so he’s very well acclimatized to altitude. It’s always going to be tough to race against them but it’s very promising leading into Maui.”
In fourth was another young-gun, a 20-year-old from Taupo by the name of Kyle Smith and in fifth was Ben Allen from Australia.
PATERSON DOMINATES
In the women’s elite race Paterson, a two-time XTERRA World Champion, was the sixth elite female out of the swim, passed all five riders in front of her by mile five of the bike and never looked back. Her winning time of 2:51:13 was a full seven-minutes ahead of runner-up Jacqui Allen from Great Britain.
“I came out of the water in second place, two-minutes down, got up into second place just after Wheeler Canyon, probably about half a mile into the next trail. I passed Julie about another mile after that but she’s strong, you know and kept with me for a bit,” said Paterson.
The “Scottish Rocket” posted the fastest bike and run splits of the day, and looked dominant.
“Yeah man, I was really going for it today,” said Paterson. “The bike felt great, I attacked the whole time and just went for it. I felt strong so wanted to push it and keep those girls honest. And the conditions were just supreme. That descent was amazing on the bike, and I’ll tell ya, if I didn’t have to run I might have enjoyed that.”
Julie Baker, who works a full-time as a soil scientist, had a brilliant race and the lead through the first five miles of the bike.
“I was in front for a little bit which was fun, but I kept waiting for Lesley to steamroll by me,” she said. “Lesley came by me by the bridges at mile five I guess, and she opened up a little gap on me and then on that little rocky mountain hill I caught her again. Then as soon as we started up again, she took it away. She just goes insanely hard, and she breathes like a freight train coming by and I don’t know how she goes that fast and that hard for so long. It’s incredible.”
Baker then had Jacqui Allen on her wheel about 15K into the bike and said “I kept her in sight for quite a while on the bike but I didn’t see her on the run. I was hoping, because I think I’m a comparable runner to her so I tried to stay close enough but then when I started running I was cramping so I had to dial it back a little.”
The former amateur XTERRA World Champ gives a lot of credit to her coach, none other than Josiah Middaugh.
“Oh my god, that was awesome, I’m super stoked about today,” said Baker. “That was a really strong field this year, and I have to thank Josiah for being my coach this year. I’ve learned a lot about bike training and how to balance everything. On the bike, I’m fitter than I’ve ever been.”
Jacqui Allen is also in fine form, and finished in second-place about one-minute ahead of Baker.
“I felt really, really good, like I got past this altitude stuff,” said Allen. “I was pretty confident going into the race actually. I was on the course the other day and felt good and I probably rode it faster in practice than I did in the race a few years ago. Today I had a really good swim. It took a bit of time on the bike to get going and Julie passed me early on and then Lesley came past and after that I got into my groove and passed Julie back and towards the end I could push on a lot more, I was out of the saddle, really ripping it. I love the downhill here, and then on the run I said in my prerace thing that as soon as I got off the first hill I’d smile, so I just kept reminding myself of that. But that’s the longest, hardest downhill I’ve ever done I think. But it was amazing. I felt awesome.”
Suzie Snyder was solid in all three disciplines to finish in fourth and secure her second-straight XTERRA Pan America Tour championship, and Morgane Riou from France rounded out the top five.
Middaugh and Baker earned XTERRA USA Champion honors as well today for being the top Americans in the race.
MIDDAUGH, SNYDER WIN XTERRA PAN AMERICA TOUR ELITE TITLES
As the culmination of a series of off-road triathlons spanning South and Central America, Mexico, the Caribbean, Canada, and the U.S., and with $60,000 in Tour bonus money at stake, today’s race was one of the true marquee events on the XTERRA World Tour.
In the men’s chase Josiah Middaugh jumped past Branden Rakita and Suzie Snyder held on to her lead as both won the XTERRA Pan Am Tour for the second straight year.
Brian Smith, who place 6th today, made a big jump to move from 7th to 4th in the standings, and by virtue of winning today Mendez made a huge leap from 19th to 5th.
In the women’s chase the top four women in the standings all held position, with the biggest move coming from Paterson’s win that bumped her into the fifth spot.
2017 XTERRA PAN AM TOUR FINAL ELITE STANDINGS
ELITE MEN
ELITE WOMEN
PL NAME, NAT TOT ARG CHI CRC BRA OAK VIC BVR MEX DOM USA 1 Suzie Snyder, USA 732 75 67 75 DNS 100 75 90 100 DNS 150 2 Kara LaPoint, USA 630 61 56 67 DNS 58 51 69 75 67 126 3 Morgane Riou, FRA 565 67 61 DNS DNS DNS 67 75 82 75 138 4 Laura Mira Dias, BRA 409 51 47 56 67 DNP DNS DNS 58 56 74 5 Lesley Paterson, GBR 390 DNS DNS DNS DNS 90 DNS 100 DNS DNS 200 6 Julie Baker, USA 328 DNS DNS DNS DNS 82 DNS 82 DNS DNS 164 7 Sabrina Gobbo, BRA 303 56 51 DNS 75 53 DNS DNS DNS DNS 68 8 Annie Bergen, CAN 246 DNS DNS 61 DNS 31 27 58 69 DNS DNP 9 Emma Garrard, USA 224 DNS DNS DNS DNS 45 DNS 63 DNS DNS 116 10 Katie Button, CAN 222 DNS DNS DNS DNS 63 61 DNS DNS DNS 98 11 Jessie Koltz, USA 221 DNS DNS DNS DNS DNS 39 49 DNF 51 82 12 Jacqui Allen, GBR 180 DNS DNS DNS DNS DNS DNS DNS DNS DNS 180 13 Heather Zimchek-Dunn, USA 173 DNS DNS DNS DNS DNS 30 53 DNS DNS 90 14 Caroline Colonna, USA 173 DNS DNS 47 DNS 28 DNS 45 53 DNS DNF 15 Genevieve Evans, USA 167 DNS DNS DNS DNS DNS DNS DNS DNS 61 106 16 Liz Gruber, USA 120 DNS DNS 51 DNS 69 DNS DNS DNS DNS DNS 17 Maia Ignatz, USA 118 DNS DNS DNS DNS 75 43 DNS DNS DNS DNS 18 Anne Usher, USA 99 DNS DNS DNS DNS 37 DNS DNS DNS DNS 62 19 Fabiola Corona, MEX 90 DNS DNS DNS DNS DNS DNS DNS 90 DNS DNS 20 Barbara Riveros, CHI 75 DNS 75 DNS DNS DNS DNS DNS DNS DNS DNS 21 Debby Sullivan, USA 74 DNS DNS DNS DNS 41 33 DNS DNS DNS DNS 22 Kelli Montgomery, USA 70 DNS DNS DNS DNS 34 36 DNS DNS DNS DNS 23 Dunia Gomez, MEX 63 DNS DNS DNS DNS DNS DNS DNS 63 DNS DNS 24 Isabella Ribeiro, BRA 61 DNS DNS DNS 61 DNS DNS DNS DNS DNS DNS 25 Holly Henry, CAN 56 DNS DNS DNS DNS DNS DNS DNS DNS DNS 56 26 Vanessa Cabrini, BRA 56 DNS DNS DNS 56 DNS DNS DNS DNS DNS DNS 27 Zoe Dawson, CAN 56 DNS DNS DNS DNS DNS 56 DNS DNS DNS DNS 28 Fernanda Prieto, BRA 51 DNS DNS DNS 51 DNS DNS DNS DNS DNS DNS 29 Katharine Carter, CAN 49 DNS DNS DNS DNS 49 DNS DNS DNS DNS DNP 30 Brisa Melcop, BRA 47 DNS DNS DNS 47 DNS DNS DNS DNS DNS DNS 31 Ladina Buss, SUI 47 DNS DNS DNS DNS DNS 47 DNS DNS DNS DNS
HAUGAN, MCCURDY WIN XTERRA PAN AM CHAMPS AMATEUR TITLESTate Haugan from Canada and Deanna McCurdy from Colorado won the overall amateur XTERRA Pan America Championship titles today. All of the age group winners below (aside from Haugen) won both the XTERRA Pan America and USA Championship crowns. In the men’s 15-19 division, Michael Loutzenheiser from Lagrange, Georgia, won the XTERRA USA Championship as the top American in the division. We’ll have more on how the amatuer race unfolded, the Pan Am Tour winners, and all the weekend events this week in the XTERRA News.
2017 XTERRA WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP QUALIFIERS
The XTERRA Pan America Championship was the last of the World Tour stops where amateur athletes could qualify to race at the 22nd annual XTERRA World Championship at Kapalua, Maui on Oct 29.
Date Race Elite Winners or Location 25-Feb XTERRA South Africa Richard Murray / Flora Duffy 4-Mar XTERRA Motatapu Dougal Allan / Josie Wilcox 18-Mar XTERRA Saipan + Silver Sam Osborne / Carina Wasle 25-Mar XTERRA Argentina # Silver Gonzalo Tellechea / Suzie Snyder 1-Apr XTERRA Thailand + Silver Kieran McPherson / Renata Bucher 1-Apr XTERRA Chile # Silver Felipe Barraza / Barbara Riveros 2-Apr XTERRA Malta * Silver Roger Serrano / Brigitta Poor 8-Apr XTERRA New Zealand + Silver Sam Osborne / Jacqui Allen 9-Apr XTERRA Costa Rica # Silver Josiah Middaugh / Suzie Snyder 16-Apr XTERRA La Reunion Ruben Ruzafa / Carina Wasle 23-Apr XTERRA Danao + GOLD Bradley Weiss / Carina Wasle 23-Apr XTERRA Cyprus * Silver Yeray Luxem / Brigitta Poor 29-Apr XTERRA Langkawi + GOLD Osborne,Allen,Weiss,McPherson/Wasle 30-Apr XTERRA Greece * Silver Ruben Ruzafa, Helena Erbenova 6-May XTERRA Tahiti + Silver Sam Osborne / Jacqui Allen 13-May XTERRA Brazil # Silver Felipe Moletta / Sabrina Gobbo 14-May XTERRA Spain * Silver Ruben Ruzafa / Helena Erbenova 20-May XTERRA Oak Mountain # GOLD Josiah Middaugh / Suzie Snyder 27-May XTERRA Portugal * Silver Ruben Ruzafa / Brigitta Poor 10-Jun XTERRA Belgium * Silver Ruben Ruzafa / Helena Erbenova 17-Jun XTERRA Mine over Matter ^ Karsten Madsen / Heather Pady 18-Jun XTERRA Finland * Silver Pavel Andreev / Louise Fox 24-Jun XTERRA Switzerland * GOLD Arthur Forissier / Michelle Flipo 2-Jul XTERRA France * GOLD Ruben Ruzafa / Laura Philipp 9-Jul XTERRA Victoria # Silver Karsten Madsen / Suzie Snyder 15-Jul XTERRA Beaver Creek # GOLD Josiah Middaugh / Lesley Paterson 30-Jul XTERRA Abruzzo * Silver Xavier Dafflon / Helena Karaskova 5-Aug XTERRA Mexico # GOLD Josiah Middaugh / Suzie Snyder 5-Aug XTERRA Norway * Silver Ruben Ruzafa / Maud Golssteyn 13-Aug XTERRA Dominican Republic Josiah Middaugh / Morgane Riou 13-Aug XTERRA Poland * Silver Sam Osborne / Brigitta Poor 19-Aug XTERRA Germany Sam Osborne / Brigitta Poor 2-Sep XTERRA European Championship Bradley Weiss / Brigitta Poor 16-Sep XTERRA Pan Am Championship Mauricio Mendez / Lesley Paterson 29-Oct XTERRA World Championship Kapalua, Maui, HawaiiThe 2017 XTERRA Pan Am Championship is presented by Paul Mitchell and the Utah Sports Commission. Sponsors include Outrigger Resorts, Muscle Milk, Gatorade Endurance, Suunto, XTERRA Wetsuits, GOAL Foundation, Oofos, XTERRA Boards, Utah Media Group, Maui Visitors Bureau, Hawaii Tourism Authority, Hub 801, U.S. Forest Service, and XTERRA Fitness.
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